Sharpen Your Focus to Communicate Your Mission

As a coach with a few years experience, I've found working with pastors and leaders of organizations to be challenging. While they're people of great vision, they have such a great wealth of knowledge, information, and stories that it's hard for them to focus on what their potential partners actually need to hear. 

CLARIFYING AND STRUCTURING THE WAY YOU COMMUNICATE YOUR MISSION TO OTHERS IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF FUNDRAISING.

It allows the person listening to begin to understand the need, the solution, and your passion for the mission you're asking them to join with you. 

In my role as a coach, sometimes I literally type what a client is saying as they answer my questions. As I'm actively listening and recording their thoughts, it gives them a chance to "get it all out". Then I help them focus as I ask them to pick the top 2 or 3 most important points they shared, and explain to me why those points are important.

Allowing a client to review what they said, and identify the most important aspects of their mission forces them to focus in on what most needs to be communicated to anyone considering becoming a financial partner in this mission.

Just this week, after a clarifying conversation together, a client emailed me, "Great conversation this morning, Deb. Thanks for strengthening me and sharpening my focus. That is what you're doing." Little did he know that I was the one celebrating his victories for the day!

Deb Evans, Fundraising Coach