Is fund raising like “selling” a product?
Two veteran fund raisers are discussing this question, saying that the answer will help shape the mindset of how to ask for donations.
Jennifer McCrea, a senior research fellow at Harvard University’s Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations, writes on her Exponential Fundraising blog that seeking money for charity should not be seen as selling because it diminishes the process.
“Selling implies that money is the most important part of the relationship. When money is at the center of the relationship, it distracts us from our mission because we are worried that we won’t have enough or that we’ll make a mistake,” she writes. “It sets up a false power dynamic that requires that we talk shell-to-shell.”
Sasha Dichter isn’t quite so sure.
On his personal blog, the director of business development for the Acumen Fund, agrees that fund raising shouldn’t be about the money, but selling shouldn’t be a “dirty word,” either. There’s a lot that fund raisers can learn from good salespeople, he says.
“When you sell something in the right way, you are helping someone get more value from something (a product, an experience, a donation) than what she is paying. You are solving a problem for her,” he writes. “You are meeting a need that she has.”
In response, Ms. McCrea says that too many of our consumer choices are driven by outside pressure from marketing and salespeople. Philanthropy, on the other hand, is an introspective experience in which the donor learns how to help a cause he or she is passionate about.
“I see my job as more of a guide than a salesperson, offering you a new way to look inside and discover what you already have,” she writes.
What do you think? Are fund raisers akin to salespeople?
7 Responses to Are Fund Raisers ‘Selling’ a Product?
sdclines - April 5, 2010 at 2:35 pm
Absolutely, fundraisers are marketing a product and I think we can learn a lot from marketing campaigns. The difference is that our pitches are one on one, directed to very special people with whom we already have a bond. Maybe “personal marketing” in the best term, similar to personal shoppers, who are only as good as their knowledge of their clients and their ability to listen carefully.
markl44 - April 5, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Of course we’re selling. In fact our challenge is even higher because we’re selling an intangible. Our objective is to provide people with the right information to motivate a gift. That doesn’t mean manipulation. Good selling is based on knowledge of the customer and utilizing that knowledge to help the customer get what they need. If you don’t do that, you won’t have a customer for long. A good fund raiser listens to their donors and communicates to them based on their needs. Treating donors like wallets is never a successful strategy. Sometimes our task is to help the donor understand that they’re passionate about our cause!
samprince2 - April 5, 2010 at 2:53 pm
This is actually an argument over semantics. Having once spent 5 minutes in life insurance sales, I learned more about the sales process than I have ever learned about it from fund raising training. Every fundraising professional would benefit from rigorous training in the area of generating referrals. Finding people and then finding connections to people is how we build networks of donors. Financial sales people focus on the same thing.To any financial salesperson worth her salt, the relationship with the client is the most important thing. If the financial salesperson has the luxury, they invest time in solidifying their relationship first – all the while knowing that down the road there will be much greater opportunities in the life cycle of their client. How is this significantly different from the way fund raisers look at donor relationships?As far as focusing on the money or the relationship, there are all kinds of organizations. Some desperately need money to survive and have done a lousy job building relationships. Others have extraordinary relationships and precious few urgent needs for quick cash. Most of us are in the middle somewhere.So it is with financial services sales. Some are just starting out and need all the revenue they can generate just to remain in business. 20 years out, you find that many of them focus their efforts on existing contacts and clients built up over time. They might talk to someone today they last attempted to sell 3 years ago. Fund raisers could benefit from running prospecting systems that are uniform and where they store information detailed enough to prompt a return visit in 6 months to 3 years.Unfortunately, with the rapidly moving professional population, most fundraisers aren’t in the same job 3 years later. Those of us who are, the few that is, get the benefit of having tickler systems designed to generate activity when the prospect is ready.
mark900 - April 5, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Most fund raisers think “sales” is a four-letter word, when, in fact, selling is just what we’re doing. It’s high time we dropped the pretense.
vparthur - April 5, 2010 at 3:14 pm
I agree with samprince. I came to fundraising via Financial Services (3 1/2 years in the business). And asking for money to fund a life insurance policy is exactly the same as asking for money to fund a non-profit progam. The difference is only profit… The insurance salesperson/registered representative gets to put food on his her table as a direct benefit of the sale. I think if you can sell insurance for any period of time you can fundraise no sweat…Because people genereally like to help. I fundraise in much the same way as I did as a financial services rep. Rather than agonizing over what move to make next with whom, I treat all constituents as potential donors (time, talent and treasure). Maybe not today, maybe tomorrow, maybe next week, maybe next year, maybe twenty years from now. Just comes naturally because it was literally beat into me as a salesperson. Which I still consider myself to be. It’s just warmer on this side of the fence!
goodsforgood - April 5, 2010 at 10:13 pm
Find a need and fill it, right? I’ve found that good sales people are trusted advisors. That is how I want my donors to view me as well. If not I’ve missed the point of being a professional in the world of philanthropy.
jayfrost - April 7, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Frankly, I think the issue here is that neither of the authors have a very clear idea of what selling is all about. While some sales are indeed one-time transactions–such as buying a bottle of juice at a local store–optimal selling is built on relationships of trust just as in major and planned giving. Conversely, much direct marketing for nonprofits is transactional in nature, as anyone with a mail box or email account well knows. Having raised money, sold products and provided services to facilitate both sales and fundraising, I feel strongly that the two fields share many characteristics. One thing is certain: you don’t want to work at a company or a charity without a good salesperson or a good fundraiser. As everyone who works in America’s third sector knows well, if you don’t ask, you don’t get. And as was famously said in The Right Stuff: No Bucks, No Buck Rogers.