Nonprofit Fundraising

Fundraising Tip — Listen

Listening has been a life-long lesson for me.

Author at a meeting. Photo credit: Author

I stopped talking.

As much as I loved my nonprofit, as much as I knew the life-changing and life-saving work our staff did every day, as much as I wanted to make sure our donor knew all of this, I stopped talking.

I let her talk. And I listened.

I remember this meeting as if it were last week. It was 14 years ago. One of my first conversations as a director of development with a donor. A donor who had donated for a few years. A donor who I wanted to get to know and see if she may want to give more.

As much as I wanted to get to know her, I realized I was talking. A lot. Foruntately for me, for those we served, and for our donor, I realized this pretty quickly into the conversation.

Fundraising Tip — 10 Daily Actions

I stopped talking.

She had plenty to say. She loved our organization. She gave because of a deeply personal experience. One that changed her life. The more she talked, the…