Richard and I believe that if your organization does not embrace a healthy culture of philanthropy, your organization will not survive beyond the next decade.  The donor landscape is rapidly changing, and if you cannot turn your organization’s eyes toward understanding your donors’ needs and desires, you will not make it.
But it doesn’t happen overnight.
A few months ago I was speaking to a group of development professionals at a conference on just this topic, Building a Culture of Philanthropy.  Following my talk, I felt as if the group was a massive balloon and I had just become the pin that burst it.
All of a sudden folks began to speak freely about how hard it was to work at their organization.  They had story after story of impossible leaders, bad boards of directors, terrible relationships with program people and no sense of camaraderie with their co-workers.
Many were just flat out beaten down.  I kept thinking, “Imagine how their donors are being cultivated and stewarded when they have lost faith in their own organization!”
My response to them was not to lose faith.  Building a culture of philanthropy takes time.  It’s about patience and persistence, just like cultivating your donors.  A million-dollar gift doesn’t happen overnight, and neither does changing an organization’s understanding of the role of philanthropy.
But, I also presented a picture of what an organization can look like if it has a strong culture of philanthropy.  Take a look:

1. Every new staff person or board member is educated on the role the donor plays in the organization — this means from the janitor all the way to the CEO.
2. All staff meetings have discussions about donors — Too many staff meetings are just focused on “what you do” and metrics.  Stories about donors need to be told at staff meetings so everyone understands how important they are in carrying out the mission.
3. Program folks understand they will work with development to meet, interact with and ask donors for gifts — Yep, development and program actually become friends and communicate freely with one another and earn each other’s trust.
4. Development staff will work in the program to understand exactly what it is they do — This means getting your hands dirty and stepping into the shoes of those who do the work you are trying to raise money for. As a development professional you need to fully understand the work so you can effectively communicate that to the donor.
5. Over half of the President’s or CEO’s time is devoted to cultivating donors, either onsite or wherever the donor is — This means that your leader embraces fundraising and is willing to boldly ask and convey his or her vision to donors.  It’s critical that leadership grasp this concept or your organization will sink fast.
6. All board members are required to spend time working with program and development staff — This allows the board member to truly understand what is going on inside your organization and how critical he or she is to its success.
7. The organization creates multiple opportunities for staff, board and donors to engage together during the year — This creates understanding and, more importantly, trust with one another.  Lack of trust always seems to come up when talking about the barriers to having a meaningful relationship between program and development.
8. Development staff is constantly communicating to the rest of the organization about how they are engaging donors — I don’t know what it is, but Richard and I don’t see development staff and MGOs doing a very good job talking about their donors and where they stand in building relationships.  This can lead to a ton of confusion and miscommunication about how donors are being cultivated.  Everyone in development should know who is doing what and what is going out to all donors.

Yes, all this can be attainable with your organization, and it can start with you.  It will take effort, patience and persistence to get there, but ultimately, everyone will be on board to create a strong culture of philanthropy.
It won’t happen overnight, however if you believe passionately in your mission, then working toward this vision is worth it, right?
Jeff
P.S. If you’d like our full PowerPoint presentation on Building a Culture of Philanthropy please click here and we’ll get that out to you.  But only if we see your name on Facebook as someone who “likes” our page! (Click here to go to our Facebook page.)
P.P.S. You may also be interested in our White Paper of the same name – click here to request it.