Let's Talk Fundraising
Welcome to "Let's Talk Fundraising" with Keith Greer, CFRE! This podcast is your go-to resource for mastering the essentials of fundraising while discovering how innovative tools and technology can supercharge your efforts. Whether you're a new fundraiser looking to level up your skills or a seasoned professional seeking timely reminders and fresh insights, each episode is packed with practical advice, creative ideas, and inspiring stories.
Join Keith as he explores the core principles that drive successful fundraising and uncovers the latest strategies to make your job easier, more enjoyable, and incredibly impactful. From relationship-building and storytelling to leveraging the newest tech, "Let's Talk Fundraising" is here to help you transform your approach and achieve remarkable results for your organization.
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Let's Talk Fundraising
My Three Essentials for a Fulfilling Fundraising Career
Ever wondered how a college internship could lead to a fulfilling career in fundraising? Discover the transformative story of how an internship at Walt Disney World shaped skills in guest relations, trust-building, and creating magical moments, which seamlessly transitioned into a rewarding trajectory in fundraising. This episode uncovers why understanding people's motivations and resolving their concerns is crucial, not just in hospitality but also in nurturing donor relationships.
We explore the elements that make a career truly satisfying: joy, purpose, and fair compensation. Whether you're embarking on a new career path or a seasoned fundraiser, learn why it's essential to identify what makes your work meaningful and never settle for anything less. Hear candid reflections on how meeting your core needs can make any challenge more manageable, and why everyone deserves to feel happy, fulfilled, and secure in their roles. Tune in for valuable insights that could reshape your approach to finding long-term happiness and success in your professional life.
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Hey, there, hi, and welcome back to let's Talk Fundraising. Earlier this week I was interviewing a candidate for a major gift officer role and they asked the panel of us why did you choose to get into fundraising? It was interesting to hear everybody's response, ranging from one panelist who is already retired but working this as a second job, and the pure altruism they have in approaching this role to another panelist who has a marketing background and enjoys the relational aspect of the job. My journey into it was distinctly different from theirs. I started college young, having just turned 17 years old. There was so much pressure to figure out what I wanted to do with my life and every professor, academic counselor and even my classmates were pushing me to decide on a major and choose essentially the rest of my life right then and there. Then along came Disney hiring for their college internship program at Walt Disney World in Orlando, florida.
Speaker 1:Having been a hardcore Disney kid, I jumped at the opportunity and two months after turning 18, I was packing my bags and headed for the Sunshine State. I started off in one of their retail stores in Epcot, got to be part of the opening crew for the new Mission Space attraction and store, moved over to resorts and did front desk bell services, concierge room operations and phone rooms. But I eventually made my way back to the theme parks and I got into guest relations and it was my favorite job that I ever had. So many families showed up to Disney World for their first vacation and they'd stop in and ask um, so what is there to do here? They'd heard about what a great place Disney was to vacation, but they did zero research before arriving and literally didn't know anything about the next 10 days of their vacation. I got to find out all about them, what they wanted out of a vacation, and then build an itinerary customized to them and their family. It was really a crash course in gaining extreme trust and building relationships in a matter of minutes. And, of course, people would come into guest relations upset and to complain, and my job was to save the relationship between our guests and the company. I loved being able to bring those relationships back from the edge of disaster and watch their energy shift from this frenetic ball that was ready to lash out at anything and everything to calm, expansive and radiant.
Speaker 1:We often said that lifelong guest ambassadors are not built upon good experience, but are built upon disenchanted guests, the ones who identified a problem and brought it to your attention, and then we were able to resolve it for them. It was here that I learned to master identifying the guest's pain points and what's driving their motivation to come to you to seek a solution, and then creating a path to resolution, making the guest feel deeply understood and their concerns effectively addressed. And my absolute favorite part of the job was creating magical moments for our guests. It wasn't something that they could expect or ask for. It was something spur of the moment that inspired us, as cast members, to take a few moments to do something truly extraordinary for them. Maybe it was something as simple as getting Goofy on the phone to wish their child a happy birthday, arranging for a VIP viewing of the fireworks, setting up a private meet-and-greet with our favorite character, or any number of unpurchasable experiences that we had at our disposal or that we could create on the spot. We also had to learn to rely on our fellow cast members and that's what Disney calls their employees because when we step into a guest-facing area in our costumes, we are part of the show, because while we might have initiated that magical moment, there were times we weren't the ones delivering on it. The guests might be eternally grateful to me as an individual, but the relationship that they were building was not with me, it was with the Disney company and brand. So in four short years I got to experience a whole range of different opportunities and for the first time, I felt like I had a direction to explore with a grown-up job and it was time to go back to college where, hopefully, I would be making some really good money after graduation.
Speaker 1:Going back to the candidate's question of why did you choose to get into fundraising, the answer is because I wanted a job that captured everything I loved about working at Disney High guest interaction roles, getting to build strong connections between people and the organization I loved. And when selling was involved, it was all about making sure it was something that they were going to love rather than something they were arm-twisted into doing going to love rather than something they were arm-twisted into doing. And I really wanted to find a way to do it altruistically, rather than putting these skills to work to enrich shareholders. I wanted to find a way to help change the world, or at least my small part of it, for the better. But their question also made me reflective on my previous roles I've held in fundraising at the different organizations I've worked at, or that my friends have worked at, and why I was happier now than I had been in a long time.
Speaker 1:And when I was growing up, my dad would always tell me if you love what you do, you'll never work another day in your life, and I think that's part true. I loved what I did at Disney and I love working in fundraising. But there was always something that was missing in each of these roles, and I've narrowed it down to three key elements that need to be present for a really satisfying career. First, I think there needs to be an element of fun, and what's fun for an accountant or an actuary is probably a death sentence for me when you're telling people that you've just met for the first time that you work in fundraising. How many times have you been met with gasps of I could never.
Speaker 1:A lot of people out there find what we do to be one of the worst things imaginable, but I love this career and whether you're a fundraiser, a lawyer, an insurance adjuster, a surgeon or whatever, you have to find the fun in what you do. My thinking around this started to shift when I was living in Hawaii and my next door neighbor made me a birthday card saying Keith is an all caps F-U-N razor and I thought it was cute and it made me smile. But that card was one of those things that kind of like water finds a crack and just keeps working its way in. So many of the fundraising jobs that I had were all caps W-O-R-K. They had become tedious and while they were fulfilling they weren't things that were fun and they weren't bringing me joy. I mean, that's why I wanted to get into fundraising. It had all of the elements of my favorite job at Disney that did bring me joy and that was one of the main reasons I chose this career path to feel that joy every day.
Speaker 1:So when I set out looking for the next career move, finding an environment I could have fun in was one of my primary goals, and during the pandemic I was actually offered multiple roles at multiple organizations but I went with the one where my boss seemed like the most fun. I got a bit of judgment from other people out there who thought I was choosing it for money or for autonomy or any number of other reasons that they justified it to themselves because it wasn't the decision that they would have made, but it was the connection I felt with that team that really sealed it. For me, the second element that I think you need to have in your career is a sense of purpose, and in the end, that was a big one for me. That was missing from my time at Disney. When I got there, my sense of purpose was strong. I was there to help families have the most magical time of their lives and ensure they loved Disney as much as I did.
Speaker 1:As time went on, I matured a bit and I started seeing more of the business side of the organization, especially as the shareholders started to revolt against Michael Eisner. It started to feel more and more like my purpose was to put money in the pockets of shareholders. I had a really difficult time staying motivated with that as my guiding compass, and I think that's pretty common among people who work in nonprofits. Right, we want to find work that ignites our passions and fuels our purpose, and every position I've interviewed for in nonprofits was with an organization that I could get excited about. I remember years ago, people in fundraising used to stick to a single sector being a healthcare fundraiser or a higher education fundraiser, animal rights, human rights or any other niche nonprofit sector that they worked in. That felt too limiting for me. I have a wide array of interests and I found purpose in the performing arts association, foundations, healthcare and higher education. I think being able to go and explore and make a difference in different areas is one of the exciting things about exploring a career as broad as nonprofit fundraising. We get into these careers because we're passionate advocates for the things that we care about, and if we're limited to only caring about one thing in our career, it seems like a pretty shallow experience to me.
Speaker 1:The third element that I think needs to be addressed in finding a fulfilling career is compensation, and it's an area that our industry struggles with Now. There are absolutely nonprofits out there that compensate their employees well, and I hope that you're lucky enough to have found yourself in one too, but I'm going to talk in the broadest terms of our sector about compensation. As a sector, we have not done a good job of paying our employees appropriately. Back in 2014, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics set out to study wage comparison between for-profit organizations and non-profit organizations, and I wasn't able to find more recent data than this study. So if you know of some, please make sure to send it to me. But in their study they discovered that, on average, non-profits paid $7.20 less per hour than for-profit organizations for employees with similar skills. Annually, that's a $14,400 wage gap, which is really significant, and now we got into the sector to make a difference. But it shouldn't mean that we also have to sacrifice our own well-being in the process. If we believe that our employees are our greatest asset, then let's treat them like they are, because it goes beyond a wage gap too.
Speaker 1:The for-profit industry outperforms non-profits and employee benefits as well. When the US Bureau of Labor Statistics looked at wages and benefits, they found that the gap widened to $13.10 per hour, which is $26,200 every year, and this wage gap is harming real people with real valuable skills. So there are some of us who are doing well and are working in organizations that pay a fair wage, but as a sector, it's far too common that we see underpaid staff members who then end up donating back to their organizations anyways and on top of that, are bringing in dishes for the holiday potluck because the organization couldn't spring for the food for the party. But they sure wanted to take credit for it, though At some point. Many people in the non-profit world make the calculation that, oh, if I go to work for an organization where my wages and benefits increase by over $26,000 a year, I can be incredibly philanthropic and give a large chunk of that to the nonprofits that I care about and still walk away in a better position financially than doing this work and being underpaid in the process.
Speaker 1:When our employees and our team members are struggling financially, it puts an enormous burden on them that has a cascade of effects ranging from immediate financial stress and an inability to cover basic needs to debt accumulation and not being able to escape that cycle. And not being able to cover basic needs leads to poor health outcomes. From not getting basic nutrition to needs leads to poor health outcomes. From not getting basic nutrition to an inability to afford health care and the stress of financial insecurity that can lead to chronic illness, anxiety, depression and other mental health issues. The stress of financial insecurity can lead to strained family and interpersonal relationships. It can reduce concentration, motivation and overall job performance. Low wages often mean fewer educational opportunities, less skills training and less professional development. And aren't these some of the very things that we are fighting to overcome in the work of our non-profits.
Speaker 1:And to get back to the three key elements of a satisfying career, compensation is a really important and critical factor. Are most of us going to get back to the three key elements of a satisfying career? Compensation is a really important and critical factor. Are most of us going to get rich working in a nonprofit? No, but should we have the financial security of our for-profit counterparts? Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And that's where I wrapped this conversation up with our job candidate.
Speaker 1:I said I got into this career because I wanted something that was going to be fun and was going to bring me joy. I wanted a career that brought me purpose and I wanted to be paid fairly for the skills that I bring to the table. And every job out there is going to have some kind of problem. There's no escaping that. But where I'm at now, these three tenets of my career having been met, the problems that are left feel more like luxury problems to have. They're things that can be absolutely dealt with without a lot of stress or anxiety, because my basic needs are met. So, whether you're looking for a new position or you're getting recruited for one, find out the qualities that matter most to you and don't settle for less. You deserve to be happy, fulfilled and secure in your role. You deserve to be paid fairly and well, even if you're working in a non-profit. I believe that when we stop accepting roles simply because the mission moves us and we accept roles that meet our needs, we can then truly help to move the mission.
