Operate in Your Strengths When Fundraising
When raising funds together, as a team or a couple, it can be transformational to understand each person's strengths that add to the end goal. As a coach, I have a couple who was discouraged in this, so we started talking about strengths and weaknesses. We decided it could be helpful to use a personality diagnostic tool, the Myers-Briggs test.
Mallory and Todd (not their real names) were all of a sudden so happy! They ate up the Meyers-Briggs test and learned so much about themselves and each other, and even made some amazing action steps!
Mallory learned she's different than when she first took the test with her friends. Now, she's an ISFJ- “the defender”- and is like Beyonce - go figure.
Todd is an INFP- “the mediator”- much like William Shakespeare (cuz we all know he took the test, too, right?).
When they read the descriptions, they reported that they were “scary accurate!” Todd is right in the middle of being an extrovert versus introvert, and scored high in the other categories. Mallory is a high introvert and high 80s in her other categories.
So basically, the only thing they have in common is the F, which stands for "feeler". As they talked about the results, they learned they both felt like the other person is doing the bulk of the work to fundraise and neither of them wanted to ask the other to do more work. Interesting!
Mallory realized that her perspective has been shaped a lot by the end goal. For her, when the end goal is right, she pours everything in to reaching the goal. But with how things have been going, the end goal to her sounds like they're just raising money. Plus, their initial goal to be fully funded was January, and has already passed, so she's been discouraged. It seems really far off right now because they're only at 40%. She thinks when you get to 70%, it won't seem as far off. Mallory is focused details but not the end goal.
Todd, on the other hand, keeps the big goal in mind but doesn’t see all the details. Mallory's sweet spot is details, and Todd's is the big picture. Now that they're both aware of their strengths and weaknesses, we made a new plan:
Mallory makes the basic to do list for the week. She gives Todd a list of calls for that week because he's much better at phone calls and likes them. As the calls happen, Todd needs to fill her in on each call so she can update the spreadsheet in real time.
This way, Mallory is doing what she loves: the spreadsheet, the back-end and behind the scenes work including the blog; and Todd is the front man, doing all the leg work in that area. Mallory said this took a huge weight off her shoulders, and it was life-giving. Praise the Lord!!
So, what strengths should you be choosing to operate in? Let a coach help you make the right action steps for you and your organization.
Deb Evans, Fundraising Coach