Everything is full speed ahead. At least it feels that way. You know how they say as you get older time seems to go faster? When you’re a kid, summer seems to last forever. Now, at age 59, summer, to me, goes by way too fast.

Our culture is either leading this effort or always catching up to this idea that everything should happen NOW. Building something used to be more about the quality, not about how long it took. Now, it’s how fast something can get done.

Wall Street used to be boring, until the 1980’s when something happened. Today, if you are not showing a profit every quarter, you lose millions in value. The idea of building something for the long term is rare.

So too are we finding this in non-profit fundraising. For the most part, our fundraising culture is about bringing in the money NOW. There is little patience for developing long-term relationships. There is pressure from everywhere to make something happen right away.

I urge you as fundraising leaders to resist this pressure. Be a revolutionary instead.

I know what I’m going to say is counter-intuitive, but if you allow your non-profit and the fundraising you do to slow way down so that you can develop relationships with your donors, you will raise much more revenue in the long term.

And, by slow down I mean that you first develop a philosophy that your mission is about three things: 1. The thing you do to help change the world; 2. Your staff and volunteers; and 3. Your donors. If you start from a place that embraces what your mission is, then you will develop the proper infrastructure, strategy, and vision that empowers your people and brings joy to your donors.

It will also help you ignore the “noise” around you that pressures you to move fast because you know it would not be good for your mission. You will be able to build a non-profit that builds community from the inside out. Your fundraising will reflect the values that power your mission.

Those fundraising values include solid strategy, having the right number of staff that are paid well, and an ethos of you being the bridge between the donor and their desire to change the world and all the ways in which your organization is doing that every day.

This means slowing down, having patience, and taking your time to do things in a manner that lifts everyone up.

At Veritus, we’ve been talking about having the patience to build relationships with donors for almost two decades. But what we’ve learned from those years is that unless the organization is set up correctly and its leadership really embraces what their mission is, it’s nearly impossible for you, the fundraiser, to be effective.

I’ve seen fundraising leaders try and sometimes they make inroads. But the pressure is so high to fall back into the “get the money now” mentality. It makes you swim upstream for so long; you just get too exhausted to fight it.

That is why I implore non-profit leaders to be revolutionary. Do the opposite of what our culture is begging you to do. Slow down, be patient, embrace the mission, love your people and your donors, and serve them well. Over time, you will see how effective your mission will be.

Jeff