Cindy Wagman - RAISE IT!: The Reluctant Fundraisers Guide to Raising Money Without Selling Your Soul

Copyright @ 2021 Cindy Wagman

Raise It! The Reluctant Fundraiser's Guide to Raising Money Without Selling Your Soul

YGTMedia Co. Publishing Press Trade Paperback Edition

ISBN trade paperback: 978-1-989716-30-4

eBook: 978-1-989716-31-1

Audio Book 978-1-989716-32-8

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In certain circumstances, names and events have been altered to protect the anonymity of those involved. The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

Published in Canada, for Global Distribution

by YGTMedia Co. Publishing

www.ygtmedia.co/publishing

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Publishing Editor: Tania Jane Moraes-Vaz

Editors: Kelly Lamb and Christine Stock

Book Designer: Doris Chung

Author photo by Nathalie Amlani

eBook Edition: Ellie Silpa

Paper Crane Shutterstock/jarupan art

Bullhorn Noun Project/Kusdarti

Cheque Noun Project/DinosoftLab

Celebration Noun Project/ibrandify

Goal Noun Project/Saiful Muslim

Money Noun Project/Designify.me

This book is dedicated to you! Youre reading this because you are a change maker. You are dedicated to making the world a better place. You work with few resources but lots of heart. In my experience, this work is also undervalued and underappreciatedso, thank you.

Download your workbook!

Before you dig into this book, I highly recommend you download our FREE workbook that accompanies the book. If you purchased the book directly from our website, you should already have it.

If you borrowed the book or purchased it elsewhere, you can quickly and easily download the workbook from our website.

Keep up the good work!

To download, go to: www.raiseitbook.com/bonus

Table of Contents

Adios Mind DramaWe Dont Like Replays,
Just Rewiring

INTRODUCTION

Welcome! Chances are you picked up this book because you want to change the world, create ripples of impact, and still be well-funded while pursuing your purpose. Whether youre an Executive Director (ED), board member, nonprofit staff, or volunteer, youve probably tried it all. All the fundraising strategies, the new ideas or hot trends, the coaching programs, the pricey consultants. If you were lucky enough to hire a fundraising staff member, its likely that your organization has been hit with the high turnover plague that seems to be status quo in our sector. Whatever youve tried, it all leaves you feeling the samenot enough money; not the results you were hoping for; too many ideas, not enough action.

Everyone has the idea that might just be the rocket ship to launch your mission and raise funds, yet theres no one willing to go with you on your fundraising journey. Youve probably lived it, too, which is why youre here with a copy of my book in your hands. Why? You guessed it. Fundraising feels hard, almost daunting. I hear it all the time: How dare I ask someone to donate toward my cause and mission?

But heres the kicker: How dare you not ask someone to donate toward your missiona mission that could change lives.

When I first started The Good Partnership, I did a lot of research on what fundraising consulting entails. How consultants work. How they serve clients. This typically meant paying for coaching, developing a fundraising strategy, assessing team structure... all parts of traditional consulting. Everyone I spoke with had a similar perspectiveall is sunny and bright on this side of the consulting relationship. Less work, more pay. Flexibility. Control. All the good things.

But no one prepared me for the horrible feeling I had when I sat across the table from my first coaching client week after week, sharing amazing advice, and having her report back that she had taken NO action.

This continued for about three or four weeks. We would meet in person at a cool, hip co-working space, where my team and I often worked. I would eagerly wait, excited to hear about her progress and any other updates. And each time wed meet, the answer was always the same: Nothing. No progress. No action. Instead, I heard lots of excuses. They were too busy. Something urgent came up. There wasnt enough time. Their donors dont want to be bothered.

To say that I was shocked would be an understatement. However, this was far more common than I realized, and it made me feel deflated, for many reasons. They were paying me a lot of money for my time, yet not implementing the strategies and recommendations Id given them. And I felt so uncomfortable taking the organizations money knowing full well that it wasnt actually moving things forward for them.

I started losing sleep. All I wanted was for these organizations to be seen, to be experienced, to raise the funds their missions so rightfully deserved. They were doing incredible, life-changing work, and more people needed what they had to offer. I didnt want to be like the other consultants, taking money for advice while knowing that for small organizations, the advice would rarely lead to action.

So, I mustered up all my courage, I sat down with that coaching client, and I politely fired them.

You might be wondering, who fires a client? If theyre happy, who cares? Its their money.

But I care! I didnt go into consulting to be able to work without accountability, but thats what was happening . I started consulting to help small nonprofits. I love small nonprofits. This is the legacy I wanted to create in the world. Not by taking money knowing that none of the work would actually get done.

I took a step back and thought, How can I make a real difference? How can I truly help small nonprofits in a way that will change their fundraising and grow their impact?

And thats when it hit me: Our consulting model doesnt work the same way for smaller and medium-sized organizations.

And the deeper, underlying problem? So much of fundraising education is teaching people who WANT to fundraise the tactics to do so. Professional fundraisers who want to fine-tune their craft. But who was teaching the non-fundraisers who were shouldered with the responsibility of fundraising, when they would rather be doing anything but?