Empathy is a fundraiser’s superpower
Being able to jump into another person’s mindset, experience and perspective is an invaluable skill for driving forward the important work of your organisation.
And channelling the motivations, hopes and challenges of your prospective donors is just one of the ways that fundraisers need to use empathy.
As a fundraiser you are the conduit between your beneficiaries, your colleagues who drive your mission, and everyone outside your organisation who could support your work. Being able to stand in the shoes of all 3 parties makes us better at bringing our work to life, and therefore bringing donors to our work.
Channelling empathy:
We all have it; when we cry, get scared or feel joy reading a book, watching a film or worrying about a friend. Using it in your work is about taking the time to switch on that ‘feeling’ part of your brain.
Before you draft a proposal, ask a colleague for something, or connect with one of your donors, ask yourself the following 3 questions:
1. What’s the ideal outcome I want from this; what does success look like?
2. What are the priorities of the person on the other side of this letter, phone call, email?
3. If I were them, what would motivate or inspire me this to take the action I want them to take?
Does all of this sound a bit time-consuming for just writing an email to a colleague to ask them to update you on how a donation has been spent or to ask a donor to meet with you? Not if you consider how much time you waste communicating out to people without fruitful results.
Not channelling empathy wastes your time:
I worked with a fundraiser who had been tasked with building relationships with dozens of university alumni who had had no contact with the University since graduating. She decided that an email from their alma mater would be a quick and efficient way to establish relations. She had been doing that diligently and getting minimal response and was stuck with how to proceed.
As her coach, I spent half an hour with her working from the perspective of the prospects who received her emails. She quickly realised that the vast majority of her emails would probably be deleted before being read and that the only way to work fruitfully towards her objectives was to start phoning them. We scripted a conversation that would feel flattering and fruitful to them; asking for their advice and input, explaining why we were only contacting them now.
It undoubtedly took far more time for her to contact each prospect, but she went from securing one meeting per month from hundreds of emails, to (her target of) 8 meetings per month from tens of phone calls.
The same is true with your colleagues. They have deadlines and targets and priorities to deliver the mission of your charity. They don’t always understand why fundraisers need what we need and it often doesn’t feel like a priority. The best tool I’ve ever found is making it as easy and painless as possible. I email and set up a 20 minute phone call and I ask them for all the information I need and we have a nice chat and it doesn’t even have to get on their to-do list.
You can put letters and emails and proposals and phone calls, tweets and Facebook updates out into the world unlimitedly, but if you don’t take time to stand in the shoes of the people who you want to inspire to take action, it’s all just noise and a fruitless waste of your talent and commitment.
So, next time you want someone to do something, take a moment to think from their perspective and make it easy and attractive for them.
Add to the chat below to share how you are using these principles in your work and/or examples you think would inspire.
Ilana Jackman is a fundraising coach & consultant, helping charities to raise even more money to do even more good. Throughout the pandemic, she is offering free 1:1 clinic sessions. Email ilana@ilanajackman.com to book yours.