To be a successful fundraiser you have to have 4 essential qualities: 1) Ability to sell a story convincingly. 2) Ability to understand your prospects. 3) Ability to adjust and adapt. 4) Ability to close deals. If you have these 4 broad qualities, chances are that you can become a successful fundraiser. But simply having these qualities will not ensure success. You need to be at the right place and with the right people. Most importantly, you should not be responsible for anything else but fundraising. Often times, the leader of an organization or a company, takes it upon himself/herself to fundraise. Although this might sound natural, it might not always be the most effective way of fundraising. Reason is simple- you really can’t just focus on a single thing with the responsibility of the entire organization on your head. You might be a great storyteller, you might understand your prospects too but sometimes you might just not be able to adjust and adapt as a leader because you always tend to see things from your organization’s perspective and not from that of your prospect. And even if you somehow manage to adjust, you will never be able to properly close the deal because you always have 10 other things revolving in your mind.
Fundraising is very similar to selling; only that in this case you are either selling a cause, a need, a want or a desire. Making someone commit their hard-earned money is one of the toughest things you can make someone do. And it can never happen without context. For example, you can’t expect yourself to sell the most lucrative asset to someone who doesn’t get the head or tail of it. That is because, people commit money when they are entirely sure about something or when they believe that they are entirely sure about something. For you to be able to sell your story to someone, you need to first win their trust. They need to believe that you mean what you say. And that leads us to a very important step prior to undertaking your fundraising pitch- Research.
I will write in detail about the same in my next blog post. Till then enjoy..
Let’s Fundraise 