Jumping Over the Obstacles to Fundraising

My Volunteer Training Philosophy

Increasing confidence is the most important task of a trainer/consultant. Demystifying fundraising is a key way to do this. “Deconstructing” fundraising into almost unconscious actions people do every day is a key to the demystification process.

For example, fundraising is about building relationships. Human beings are relationship animals. We build relationships with our mothers in the womb, with our families after birth, with children in the neighborhood, colleagues at work, and on and on.

Fundraising is about being enthusiastic about something and sharing our enthusiasm. We also have been doing this since we got a new ball and asked a neighborhood child to play with us, and on and on.

Fundraising is about making a case, for example making a case for an increase in our allowance, to borrow the family car, to ask someone out on a date, to gain entrance to a chosen school, to get a job, to get a raise, to propose marriage, and on and on.

Fundraising is about taking little risks, one step at a time, as in all the examples I gave above.

And fundraising is a 100-spoke wheel and only one of those spokes is the actual solicitation. Everything else is getting ready and then saying thank you.

So when I conduct trainings with these philosophies in mind, almost everyone feels more comfortable than when they began. Volunteers can see themselves playing a part in the process and being successful at it.
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