Congratulations! You’ve mastered the basics of fundraising 101, you understand the power of relationships, and your team is working from a clearly articulated Fundraising Plan.
You’ve got the world by the tail. What could possibly go wrong?
And then you hit a few bumps in the road - internal relationships that aren’t collaborative, challenges in the “senior leadership buy-in” file, or a database that decides to go belly up...just after your service contract ended.
Uh oh. They didn’t teach me about this in my Fundraising textbook. What’s a smart and successful fundraiser to do?
They focus on their fundraising mindset.
In this series of 6 articles by Jenny Mitchell, CFRE, you’ll learn how your mindset is the single biggest indicator of your professional success. Each article provides helpful ideas and advice on how you can maintain your fundraising mojo in the face of challenges (that are often out of your control!)
Ready to read about how to change your mindset, change your success? You’ve got this!
The fundraiser mindset – how to adopt a positive mindset so you can approach your work with purpose and clarity.
Today we are going to talk about COMMITMENT
So you want to be a successful fundraiser…great news! I mean really, who DOESN’T want to be a successful fundraiser, right?
But wanting to be successful, and putting into steps the actions and behaviours that will achieve your goals are two different things.
You want to be successful, BUT:
· You get distracted from your goals by administrative work, or volunteer work (mea culpa on that one!!) or a whole litany of other excuses.
· You’re quick to point out all the problems that stop you from doing your job at your organization. It’s the structure that’s wrong. If that was fixed, THEN you could be successful.
· You just don’t have enough time to do the things you need to do to meet your goals.
Zig Ziglar says
When obstacles arise, you change your DIRECTION to reach your goal, you do not change your DECISION to get there.
Have I hit a nerve?
Are you reading this thinking” Jenny doesn’t know what she’s talking about.” She doesn’t understand what’s going on in my shop.”
Ah, but I do.
Until you commit to being successful, until you make the DECISION to be successful, you won’t get there.
Commitment is key to a fundraiser’s mindset. Commitment hard-wires us to be resilient, to bounce back from challenges, and to find a new path forward.
What does commitment look like?
· Saying yes to things you know you can accomplish.
· Saying no to the things you can’t accomplish.
· Finding an alternate path forward when obstacles arise.
· Being creative when you hit a roadblock.
· Defining your own personal path for success
What are you committed to doing today, in order to be successful tomorrow?
Your Turn – ready, set, go!
Reflect. Take 10 minutes to think about the past 6 months.
1. When was a time that you successfully committed, and completed a project? How did you feel? What was your mindset during the journey?
2. When was a time that you disappointed someone (maybe yourself?) Can you reflect and determine why it happened? How could you have changed the outcome? Were you committed to your success?
Jenny Mitchell, CFRE, helps not-for-profit leaders change the world, one mission at a time! Jenny’s patented Fundraising Mastermind model of coaching helps charities across North America build and grow their culture of philanthropy. Connect with Jenny at Jenny@Chavender.com, or through her website at Chavender.com.
