Additional Tools for Building Effective Philanthropic Relationships with Institutional Partners

One of my favorite things to do as a fundraising consultant is to help those who are not comfortable with fundraising get comfortable, learn how to be conversational and, in some cases, find our work … enjoyable! The leaders, physicians, faculty members and others who are least likely to be seen as partners early on often become exceptional partners with whom advancement loves to work.

Often times, when we have institutional partners that advancement professionals are eager to work with, that can be perceived as playing favorites. And while earlier in my career I would have shied away from such a description, over time I’ve become much more comfortable owning this idea … and even sharing that other partners and individuals can become “favorites” too!

That’s why it’s so important that we, as advancement professionals, become comfortable coaching our partners on what it takes to become a “favorite.” Our partners are not experts in fundraising. So it’s our role to have the open, clear coaching conversations that help them get there, and to tell them what it takes to make your work together worthwhile.

What if you said to your colleague: “I’m excited to talk about how we might work together! I’d like to learn more about your project, and also share some patterns I’ve seen in what can make our partnership as effective as possible.”

By doing some table-setting first, you’re then able to share what we all wish every partner knew:

  • Ongoing, sustainable initiatives are more productive for the donor and the institution than one-off, one-time-only needs.
  • They will need to be committed to providing time and energy to this effort in an ongoing way, making time for both the behind-the-scenes work and donor engagement. While some will never be comfortable talking about philanthropy, we can help them learn how to talk about impact. And, they can make our work more meaningful by being accessible and engaged, and serving as a champion and a conduit of information.
  • There must be a viable audience for a fundraising initiative — an identifiable group of individuals (or foundation funders) who find the effort compelling and worthy of philanthropic investment.
  • The better they are at connecting with their colleagues and championing their initiative internally — with deans, presidents, etc. — the greater the opportunities for success, as this will open the door for collaboration with donors who may overlap into other areas.
  • The portion of your time that you can allot to this effort, so that you can align your partners’ expectations.

Use this opportunity to ask questions as well, inviting your partner to reflect on how their project would overlap with these issues.

  • Who do you think the donor audience would be for this?
  • Are there any alumni/grateful patient/community members who are supportive of this work? Have they been engaged to this point?
  • Would this project be an immediate need, or is there a longer-term horizon for this? Would multi-year or endowment support be a fit?
  • How would donations make a difference for this project?
  • In order to take this initiative forward, we would want to develop a case for support and giving opportunities, and then we’ll have ongoing work of identifying and engaging prospective supporters. How much time would you be able to dedicate to this effort?

Very few of the colleagues who we partner with will come to the table with a fine-tuned approach to fundraising. Most will either be new to it, or worked with someone else in their past who had a different style. But this newness gives us every opportunity to help create a path forward that leads to success in fundraising and the identifying of another “favorite.”

The Three Keys to Strong Fundraising Partnerships

In recent months, I’ve had several conversations about the challenges of working with and staffing our internal partners — physicians, faculty, program leaders, and others — in a virtual environment. With fewer unstructured connections and in-person opportunities to engage, creating an open and authentic partnership is requiring more intentionality than ever.

This partnership is critical: Our internal allies are the best representatives of their work, and they can inspire greater levels of generosity and impact than fundraisers can alone. In my coaching, I talk about three critical elements to developing trusting and authentic relationships: We must be educators, navigators, and negotiators.

Education: Our internal partners are often brilliant … but they’re rarely fundraising experts. We can play an incredible role in increasing partners’ buy-in and comfort, and therefore fundraising success. Let’s take every opportunity we can to do just that, by educating on how this work happens and their role in it by discussing:

  • The process of prospect assignment and building portfolios.
  • The steps for building an effective new fundraising initiative.
  • Partnering with our central advancement colleagues — and the value in this partnership.
  • Building a strong prospect relationship, and how we invite prospects to become philanthropic partners.

Navigation: Fundraising can be tricky! Where resources are involved, navigating those dynamics becomes key. We can build trust and buy-in by skillfully navigating scenarios to create the best possible outcome for the program, the donor, and the institution, and provide guidance to our partners on how to navigate these challenges as well. For example:

  • Considering multiple strategies or approaches to find the best one for a donor.
  • Two deans working together on an interdisciplinary fundraising priority when their visions do not align.
  • A donor seeking more transparency to better understand how a gift would be used to create real impact.

Negotiation: Fundraising is full of varying personalities, priorities, and preferences … all requiring regular negotiation. As gift officers, the more thoughtfully we can negotiate competing desires and approaches, the better we can build internal partnerships and move toward results. The opportunities for negotiation, and for guiding our internal partners in negotiation, are frequent:

  • A potential gift requires a fair amount of negotiation with the donor, and our partner needs assistance in managing that process skillfully and with patience, understanding that it will be worthwhile.
  • A partner’s priority initiative is not seen as aligned with the institution’s strategic plan. And therefore, not an approved fundraising priority.
  • A partner is in a leadership role, and is approached by a team member requesting fundraising support. That support isn’t readily available due to other priorities, but the leader needs support saying “no” (e.g., a dean you work with is approached by a faculty member).
  • A physician wants to solicit a prospect for a new piece of equipment, but you know the prospect has a different priority.
  • A donor offers a gift that isn’t in alignment with the program’s vision.

The investment that we make to educate, navigate, and negotiate should build relationships that allow philanthropy to do its greatest good. But this won’t happen by accident: We as fundraisers must have the courage to lead those discussions in a timely and appropriate manner. Think about your most important internal partners — are there any topics you’re leaving on the table? How would it build your relationship if you took on those topics through open dialogue and a commitment to education, navigation, and negotiation?

Looking for more tools to strengthen how you work with your key physician, dean, or program partner? Our recent webinar series on being a unit lead is great for team discussions, learning, and practicum.

A Winning Partnership With Your Dean

When you consider your most valuable allies in higher education fundraising, whom do you think of? I’m willing to bet that for the vast majority of you, your dean came to mind quickly. And that’s because the dean’s role is irreplaceable as an influencer with prospects, advocate across campus, and champion for our cause in the larger community.

However, many fundraisers struggle to create the kind of relationship with our dean that maximizes these roles and leads to greater success. How many of us have felt that our dean didn’t understand our work, provide development enough time, or have all the tools to shine with donors?

There is good news here – these challenges can be overcome to create a strong, mutually-beneficial partnership by using techniques like those below.

  • Cultivate your relationship with your dean just like you would with a prospect – get to know his/her communication preferences, goals, and values, and celebrate his/her non-development successes.
  • Use written strategies to demonstrate a clear thought process, purpose, and outcomes for prospects, events, and projects. For example, if you are planning an introductory event, what is the realistic expectation for new prospects identified – 2 or 20?
  • Be clear with your dean about your manager’s expectations for your work – what are your metrics, are you responsible for alumni relations or pure major gift strategies, etc.
  • While it may not be fun to play the “bad cop” by adhering to naming gift policies, identifying fundraising projects that may not be viable, etc., it will help your dean save face and time in the long run.
  • Make it a standard part of prospect meetings to provide and receive thoughtful feedback afterward.
  • Get to know what your dean enjoys and excels at in dealing with prospects, and adjust accordingly. Is s/he good at making small talk with prospects, or do you need to always facilitate the rapport building? Can or will your dean make a solicitation?
  • Additionally, set your dean up on campus to capitalize on strengths, and try to avoid situations that highlight a weakness. For example, if your dean actively dislikes conflict with other deans, first flesh out the details of a shared donor strategy with another unit’s development officer before bringing all parties into the same room.
  • Protect your dean’s time by drafting donor communications and even internal communications under the dean’s name.

How many of these tips do you currently practice, and how do you think your dean would respond if you implemented more? Share your thoughts in the comments!

KDD Philanthropy offers hands-on sessions to support you doing your best work with faculty/physicians and internal leadership. Check out our offerings here, and sign up here for more insights delivered to your inbox.

Fundraising Myths and Folklore

“I’ve been called a shark, a vulture, a barracuda…all by faculty who are supposed to be my partners!” – Development colleague

“I’m sure my fundraiser has a rolodex of prospects she can reach out to for donations if she really wanted to.” – Faculty partner

Let’s face it – if you’ve been in the fundraising field, you’ve heard misunderstandings like these and more. To our institutional partners, their understanding of securing philanthropic gifts can be more unpleasant myths and folklore than a fulfilling and important reality.

None of these myths are more important to overcome than the impression that our work is less noble and nuanced than it is. As long as our colleagues don’t understand the value of our work and our professionalism, it will be a barrier to successful fundraising.

Let’s look at how this misunderstanding can manifest in the minds of faculty, physicians and other partners – and what we know to be true instead. Do you recognize any of these misconceptions?

  • Myth: Fundraising is like sales.
  • Fact: In philanthropy, the donor is not driven by a need for an item, but rather by values and goals. Unlike sales, where there is an item or activity to be purchased, fundraisers offer opportunities to act upon personal beliefs about philanthropy, community and issues of concern to prospects. Most fundraisers do not receive a “commission” based upon amount of money raised.
  • Myth: Fundraising is about begging for money, and people don’t like to be asked to give.
  • Fact: Giving to a cause that is personally meaningful is a rewarding activity. Fundraising is the process of getting to know prospects’ values and ability to donate, and then offering gift opportunities based upon this information so that donors can act in alignment with their beliefs and values.
  • Myth: I could never do what you do – asking for money is so hard and awkward. And, I don’t want to offend someone by asking for such a large amount…it seems crass.
  • Fact: Once you’ve practiced and seen some success, you’ll be surprised how much less awkward or impossible this work feels. When done correctly, the solicitation is a natural next step in the conversation, rather than a surprise, and the amount is a reflection of the prospect’s ability and desire to have an impact.
  • Myth: Development staff are often pushy with prospects and will make prospects uncomfortable.
  • Fact: A fundraiser is successful by building prospects’ trust in the institution and its ability to impact a cause, and by developing respectful and purposeful relationships – so it is counterproductive to make prospects uncomfortable. However, fundraisers are often in the role of keeping philanthropic conversations on track to allow faculty, physicians and other experts to play different roles.

Perhaps one of our most challenging and rewarding opportunities in this field is to educate and inspire our partners to see the facts about fundraising, and then to welcome those partners more fully into this irreplaceable work. Imagine how your results would increase if you could move some of your colleagues from myth to fact. In fact, I would argue that we should regularly ensure that our interactions are serving this very purpose, by demonstrating our integrity and communicating clearly.

If you’d like to ensure that your faculty, physicians and other colleagues are prepared to be full partners in the philosophy and practicalities of fundraising, KDD Philanthropy’s unique approach to training may be the right fit for your institution. Our focus on providing hands-on, real-world scenarios allows our partners to gain true insight and appreciation for fundraising, and their role in it.

Contact us today to learn more about our offerings!

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