Is It Time to Hire a Fundraiser?
Is it time for a hire?
Whether you’re asking the question from a position of strength financially or wondering if a staff member is the silver bullet to getting your budget out of the red, this is a critical question for all non-profits. Likely, you didn’t start your organization and hire a fundraiser out of the gate. You did that work because there simply weren’t funds for it otherwise. But now you are wondering if it’s time.
Before you answer yes or no to an in-house fundraiser or consultant, we gathered a few lessons learned over the years on what to consider before making the leap. Some are myths to debunk, some are reminders, and some offer a little bit of a new way of thinking. Each, we believe, is important.
Fundraising is not just one person’s job. If you think that your new fundraiser will solve all your fundraising challenges, it’s time to recalibrate. Fundraising, ideally, should be the responsibility of a sole person when financially possible. But the CEO, communications leader, marketing leader, staff in the field, even your IT and finance gurus, should be part of your fundraising team. Each plays a role in making the ask, supporting with the right language, providing stories of impact and tracking the result of asks to keeping accurate records. Decision Point: Make sure fundraising support is part of each of these team members’ job descriptions with a weekly time allotment, and gather as a team regularly.
Connect your communications lead. Fundraising and communications are like hand in glove. The two will work more effectively and efficiently when they share a message, share tactics, share a calendar and support one another’s efforts. For example, what you send in your regular communications should be connected in timing and message to your outreach and meetings with major donors. One reason for this is to not confuse your donors with multiple asks and to use your regular communications as a springboard for a deeper discussion with your engaged donors. For example, bring a story to a major donor that takes what you shared in your monthly communications to a deeper, “behind-the-scenes” level. Decision Point: Who from your communications team should be included in your fundraiser interviews?
Your first hire needs to have a research bend. Whether you’re hiring a fundraiser with a job description to beat the pavement or someone to support your CEO’s meetings with funders, your first hire needs to like research. They need to like to slice and dice your data on your donors, run a database and keep it clean, research donor capacity and other data-focused tasks. They also need to love to keep a schedule and check in on results. If you simply hire someone to meet with people and make asks, but they don’t put the research into the beginning or keep the records straight after the meetings, then you are missing a critical component. Decision point: If your CEO has the capacity to make the meetings, make your first fundraising hire a researcher who can equip. Otherwise, you need to hire a fundraiser with a penchant for both the meeting and the work that happens around it.
So, how do you know if it’s time to hire a full-time fundraiser or hire a consultant? First, think about the time. Does anyone on your team have the time to spend on fundraising? If the answer is no, it’s worth it to think about two things: how can they make a margin to support/engage with a fundraiser and can they make enough time to do it with your resources now?
If you decide on a new team member, consider in-house vs. consultant. In-house obviously comes with HR expenses while consultant costs come with a one-time hit. So make sure that hire has long-term financial support and a consultant offers a solution that can be replicated by your team year after year (you want a system, not a few shots in the dark).
No one person is a silver bullet to finding the funding for your mission. And simply finding a “people person” is not the answer. It’s an important decision for your organization, for your hire, and mostly for the donor who will interact with this person. So take your time.