If you’re a fundraiser, your mission is simple, but powerful: help donors find joy through their giving by connecting them to meaningful programs that change the world. That’s it. Your role is to guide them on a generous, life-giving journey—one that deepens their connection to your mission and invites them to do more over time.
But too often, that journey is anything but joyful. Instead, it’s clunky, frustrating, and impersonal. Why? Because the systems and structures within your organization weren’t built for the donor. They were built for your internal ease, department goals, and organizational silos. And the cost of that is steep: donors get stuck. Or worse, they walk away altogether.
At Veritus, we see it all the time. One of the biggest culprits behind donor dissatisfaction and internal dysfunction is siloed fundraising teams. Everyone knows silos are bad—no one argues that. But very few are willing to do the hard work to tear them down. Why? Because it takes time, effort, and leadership.
And when you’re racing toward year-end goals or scrambling to cover a vacant position, it’s easy to push “culture work” to the bottom of your to-do list. But the truth is: if you don’t address your internal culture, you will never create a great experience for your donors.
Let’s break it down. Here’s how these silos typically show up:
It’s not malicious. It’s just the natural result of systems that prioritize departmental performance over donor experience. We’ve even seen organizations with separate databases for different teams. No wonder trust is so hard to build.
And when these structures persist, the culture that forms around them becomes territorial, siloed, and suspicious. Staff start guarding their donors like personal property. Collaboration breaks down. And worst of all, the donor gets caught in the middle—treated more like a transaction than a partner.
Here’s the good news: it doesn’t have to stay this way. Culture can change. Silos can be dismantled. But it takes committed leadership that’s willing to refocus the organization around what matters most: the donor’s journey.
That starts with building systems and incentives that reward collaboration, not competition. It means creating shared KPIs and clear hand-off protocols so that each team knows how and when to transition donors along the pipeline. It means regular communication between departments, joint planning, and a shared vision for how to care for donors across all levels of giving.
We’ve written in other posts about building trust and fostering a culture of gratitude, both of which are central to this conversation. Because if your internal teams don’t trust one another, or if gratitude isn’t part of your daily culture, then your donors will feel that disconnect too.
Yes, this is hard work. But it’s worth it.
Jeff