We're Not Here to Raise Money: Lessons for Fundraisers from This Stressful Season
Here's a little bit of real-talk
Friends, we’re not here to raise money.
Not really.
The money is a sideshow.
The money is just the means by which we ensure the things we value happen. The money is also a vehicle through which we care for each other.
But the money is not the point.
The caring is the point, here.
Being in community is the point, here.
Our shared humanity is the point, here.
I announced the creation and availability of the Wisdom Circle for Philanthropy over the second half of September. To much excitement!
SO many of you have told me that this is SO needed. That you love the idea. That you’re so glad I’m providing this opportunity.
At the same time, so many of you have expressed doubts about your ability to participate — either because you’re making that decision yourself and struggling with it… and/or because you’re being told that by a supervisor.
Here’s the thing.
I’m shaking my head a bit, as I have these conversations with y’all… because they are proving the need for the Wisdom Circle… and showing why your decision should absolutely be to join us!
Road-blocks people tell me they’re encountering:
I just don’t have time for this! I’m so overwhelmed at work. I’ve got so much going on. I’m in a new management role, and/or I’m learning a new skill-set, and/or I’ve got a team depending on me now, and/or I’m really struggling to integrate my work and the rest of my life, and/or… I’m sure you can fill in the rest.
—> I know we all know what this feeling is like — and sharing in the camaraderie of being in that rock-and-a-hard-place situation… and helping each other transform it into something much more healthy, something that supports our holistic wellness, is one of the key purposes of the Wisdom Circle!
My supervisor said no. Managing relationships at work, most especially those between workers and their supervisors, can so often be fraught. In my own experience, and in the experience of SO many of my colleagues, we so often are driven from jobs, propelled to greener pastures, by our relationships at work. They are far-too-often toxic and stressful, to some degree. Beyond that? They are rarely supportive, in the ways we need.
—> This is exactly why one of the major goals of the Wisdom Circle is to provide the support, guidance, and community care that all of us need to navigate our relationships at work, knowing how much they affect our actual work!
Things are super-tense and stressful right now. Yes! Things ARE super-tense and stressful right now! Also: I have yet to encounter a time in my career when they are not. For some reason or other. You too?
—> This abiding truth is why the Wisdom Circle is designed to provide a warm, safe, supportive, caring, healing container for you to re-fill your cup — and to learn new skills with which to approach your day-to-day work… that will actually help mitigate the stress you are experiencing!
I don’t have enough money for professional development. This is another enduring truth that has irked me throughout my career. Nonprofits never provide enough professional development for their staffs. And allocating money in the budget for professional development seems to always be an after-thought. Cuts need to be made? Professional development is usually one of the first victims. This seems like cutting off your nose to spite your face, if you ask me! A staff is literally how almost every nonprofit’s mission gets accomplished. No staff, no mission. Under-resourced, under-trained staff? Compromised mission. WHY isn’t professional development thus prioritized? I strongly believe it should be.
—> Given what I said above, of course I genuinely hope that your employer would happily fund your professional development via a Wisdom Circle membership. At the same time, I know how dicey the chances for that can be… AND I do not want anyone losing out on this kind of professional development, guidance, skill-building, mentoring, and support. SO! That is why I offer scholarships. I will be happy to offer you one, if you need it. Just ask! We’ll talk.
Can I even call this professional development? I’m not sure! I’m not even sure how to budget for this… or whether I can justify it as professional development. Is it? Is this the same as a conference… or a webinar… or a training?
—> YES! This is professional development! Highly effective professional development, at that! You know what? I designed the Wisdom Circle to be the highly effective, applicable-to-my-actual-work professional development I have always craved. This will be different than most professional development you’ve experienced. You will learn so much from hearing what your peers are experiencing, and from witnessing how they are being guided through their own issues. You can bring any problem you’re facing — whether a tricky grant proposal or a fundraising letter you’re working on writing, a challenging issue with a teammate, or an ego-driven donor you’re struggling to build rapport with — and work through it in the Circle. The Circle will be part fundraising course, part problem-solving resource, part networking and community-building, part support group, part on-the-job training… and more…
Friends, look at that list above again.
THESE ARE THE ISSUES we’re all facing, daily, weekly — the most stubborn, gnarly, toxic, seemingly unfixable problems we keep struggling with, the ones seemingly just woven into the fabric of our work.
And here’s the thing.
We can’t solve any of these problems with an academic exercise, with our minds or via some brilliant analysis. We can’t just listen to a lecture, podcast, webinar, or training… or think or write about it. Or even just talk about it.
We need to experience the antidotes, even and especially while we’re in the midst of the toxins, so that the antidotes can do their work.
On a regular basis.
Daily.
Weekly.
Monthly.
And before we know it, we’ll have been living our way into a whole new world of experiences, a whole new way to live and work.
The irony here is that, while considering whether or not we can sign on to healing ourselves and our work in this way, we’re doing a thing that is one of the ongoing systemic problems we need to heal: we are spinning our wheels.
Why would we refuse the antidote to a toxin we’re ingesting… because we’re so busy ingesting the toxin?
The stress of this moment is not going to go away. Not really.
Yes, the election will pass.
The results will be revealed.
And you know what? We’ll keep living our lives, doing our best to get by. No matter what the results are.
And I will say this:
No matter what the results of the election are, we are still going to be facing the same kinds of problems, struggling in the same kinds of ways in our daily lives, and we’ll likely be faced with ever-bigger challenges, as the trajectories that we and our fellow humans are on continue to unfold.
Inflation will likely stubbornly persist.
Nobody knows what will happen with the U.S. stock market, but it will likely continue to confound our work.
When people tighten their belts, our jobs will become harder and stress us out.
The civil unrest and discord will likely continue to animate far too many of us.
Power will continue to favor the few.
Those in power will continue to cling to it.
True change — systemic and otherwise — will continue to seem out of reach.
And in the midst of all of that, the Wisdom Circle for Philanthropy will be quietly gathering — and incubating and growing a whole new world into being.
With Love,
Cecelia 💗