Before founding Little Bean Group, I managed several large fundraising teams. I saw firsthand how sound management contributes to individual and group achievement, and also how managing in this field brings particular challenges.
What are the special concerns for managing fundraising teams? This question feels urgent now. We are in a national moment of high employee turnover across many fields, and we know that competition for development talent never ceases. Managing your team well improves retention, saves money, and bolsters organizational effectiveness.
As you form strategies to guide your team, I hope that some of my observations will be helpful. While some of these tips work for a wide range of jobs, I think that fundraising comes with unique considerations for managers.
Be a Sounding Board, Teacher, and Connector
Your frontline fundraisers will inevitably face difficulties. You can help them by being a sounding board for their struggles, sharing your experiences, and connecting them to mentors who can help them grow.
For example, fundraisers may become discouraged when they struggle to secure donor visits. This work entails rejection and non-response, and it takes a toll. Show your employees that you have been there, and share how you dealt creatively with roadblocks. Your experience is a valuable starting point to help them brainstorm innovative solutions.
You can also connect your team members to mentors, both inside your organization and beyond, who can provide worthwhile help and guidance. Sharing these connections freely illustrates that fundraising truly is a team sport, and that new relationships can be generative and invigorating. I have seen that the fresh perspectives that emerge from mentor-mentee connections can add tremendous value and creativity to work. It’s also important to recognize that you may not always be the best individual to offer guidance, mentorship, or expertise. Recognize when you make a connection for an employee that will help them to learn and grow. Identifying others to help in employee development and engagement is a characteristic of a strong manager.
Set Attainable Goals Collaboratively
Setting goals is a delicate process. As a manager, you receive hard targets from leaders that may or may not have been developed with your input. As you take your targets and shape attainment metrics for your team, try to work together to the extent possible to ensure that goals are collaborative and feasible. Fundraisers know that a lot is demanded of them and a high level of work is expected. “Stretch” goals can be motivating, but they can also lead to burnout if they are unrealistic. Get input from your team on what they think can be accomplished, and take their concerns about obstacles seriously. Conversely, ask them what dreaming big would look like—is there an inspiring goal that you can achieve together?
What if you need to recalibrate goals? Fundraising managers received a crash course in this process at the onset of Covid-19. You can show flexibility and grace to employees by acknowledging how the environment has shifted while helping them reach their targets. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint” is especially applicable to fundraising, and part of being a good manager is the ability to support your employees through the ups and downs of the yearly cycle and external realities that are out of their control.
Advocate
I believe that a core obligation of fundraising managers is to advocate for your employees. This is especially crucial publicly in your organization. This means asking for the resources that your team needs, and also finding opportunities to share their achievements with a wider audience.
On the opposite end, when dealing with poor performance and employees who do not pull their weight, never resort to public badmouthing. Pursuing this route not only ensures that the poor performer will not improve—embarrassment is a poor motivator and you should have a formal performance improvement process in place—it also drives away good employees and has a devastating impact on morale.
Managing employees brings huge challenges and rewards, and I believe that fundraising brings excess quantities of both. I hope that these tips helped you think about some of the special considerations in our field. As always, please reach out if you have other tips to share.