Need More Staff? Don’t
Go It Alone
You Can Make Development
Everyone’s Job
When You Follow These Six Easy Steps
by Tom Colligan, Vice President
Jeffrey Byrne & Associates, Inc.
Helping each and every employee and volunteer
understand that they have a role in your
organization’s development program
– sometimes referred to as “building
a development culture” -- will yield
extraordinary long-term results. To achieve
this, each and every employee and volunteer
must understand how their involvement can
impact the results achieved in fundraising
and development.
And when we say “each employee,”
we mean part-time nonexempt staff through
the CEO. For volunteers, it represents the
once-a-month envelope stuffer through the
chairman of the board. We will refer to
these people as “The Family”
in your organization.
Here are Six Easy Steps
to build a development culture:
1. When holding meetings
there should be a portion of the meeting
that speaks to the organization’s
Mission and a short story about how the
Mission was met that day, week or month.
2. When conducting the
annual campaign (or requesting any contribution,
for that matter) start with The Family and
solicit each member of The Family in the
same way as you solicit your major gift
donors. They should have a face-to-face
meeting where their personal financial commitment
and investment is requested. This is a perfect
opportunity to share the importance of the
organization’s Mission. Remember modeling?
How you approach and treat The Family is
how members of The Family will approach
and treat everyone they come into contact
with throughout the organization.
3. Thank each member
of The Family personally and in the same
manner that you would a key donor.
4. When a successful
level of contributions is achieved, use
the generosity of The Family to motivate
and inspire others. Boards have been known
to increase their level of giving based
on the generosity of employee donations.
5. Provide human relations,
public relations, and customer service training
to employees and, where appropriate, volunteers.
Then model perfection in these areas.
6. Invite every member
of The Family to important organizational
activities and events including the annual
meeting, celebrations, etc.
As The Family feels more
and more like they are working to accomplish
the same Mission, you will begin seeing
ordinary people achieve extraordinary results.
