Shut Up And Listen

October 19, 2015      Tom Belford

As reported in this NonProfit Times article, consultant Richard Brown offered this simple advice at a recent fundraising conference, in the context of major gift fundraising:

“Just keep your mouth shut and your ears open.”

He was cautioning about the tendency of fundraisers always to be in sales mode, with predictable talking points:

  • You’ll be making a difference;
  • We’re addressing a need;
  • You need us;
  • We need you;
  • Return on investment;
  • Your friends and competitors are donating; and,
  • How much growth we’ve experienced.

As Brown sees it, and I agree, the problem with being in ‘sales mode’ is that the fundraiser winds up talking much too much about the organization — it becomes all about the organization and its needs instead of about the donor and his or her needs.

Moreover, I don’t think this is an affliction only of major gift fundraisers; it can infect any aspect or channel of fundraising, right down to the lowly email or direct mail solicitation.

So the advice to ‘shut up and listen’ can apply to all fundraising situations.

Listening hands the exchange over to the donor — what they want, expect, hope to achieve. Of course, major gift and face-to-face fundraisers have it easy (relatively speaking); they’re with the donor. In the direct marketing setting, the challenge is to anticipate what that conversation might be.

But nevertheless, whatever the setting or channel of communications, fundraising is the art of enabling the donor’s aspirations, .

As Brown says of fundraisers and fundraising: “If you’re more interested in what you have to say, this is probably not the business for you.”

Tom

4 responses to “Shut Up And Listen”

  1. Simone Joyaux says:
    October 19, 2015 at 1:55 am

    I so very much agree! Fundraisers can be great storytellers. But are we sufficiently great story listeners? Not so much, I find.

    I have a multi-part article in my Nonprofit Quarterly online column…. Fundraising isn’t about money – Neither is giving. And I explore story listening there.

    Thanks, as always, you agitators.

  2. Scott Swedenburg says:
    October 19, 2015 at 8:41 am

    Most fundraising copy is sales mode. We do this or we have that. Instead of framing it for the donor to be the hero. A lot more “you” and a lot less “we” or “I.”

  3. Tom Hurley says:
    October 19, 2015 at 11:44 am

    One roadblock to doing it right and putting the donor first; the approval process from the client. It’s easier to get ‘sales mode’ copy approved because that’s what client management is most used to seeing in everything from annual reports right on down the communications plan.

    Putting the donor first is more than a direct response technique; it must be part of a fundraiser’s personal and professional constitution.

  4. Mary Cahalane says:
    October 19, 2015 at 1:35 pm

    Yes! One reason I like to remind people that you don’t have to be an extrovert to be a good fundraiser.

    People are far less interested in listening to you talk about your organization and far more interested in whether you care about them and their interests. You won’t find out if your mouth is running.

    And it can’t be just passive listening (while your brain is running on about what you’ll say next). Take a deep breath and enjoy the chance to just listen to someone – get to know them. Then you may be given the chance to talk about the work – likely to be much more successful!

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