Grand Strategy: How to fight fear, be bold and win at fundraising
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Summary:
In this episode of the 7-Figure Fundraising Podcast, host Trevor Bragdon speaks with John Tillman, CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute, a public policy nonprofit.
John is one of the nation’s most prominent leaders in the state-based think-tank world. Over the last 12 years, John has grown the Illinois Policy Institute from $80,000 to more than $12 million in annual revenue and nearly 50 staff members. Before entering the public policy field, John was and continues to be, a businessman and entrepreneur.
Background
John shares he had an interest in politics from an early age, leading him to study journalism and political science in college. After graduation, he spent 11 years working in a call center and another 12 years working in sporting goods retail. As he was working at the call center, John remembered realizing each of his part-time co-workers had that job to supplement their full-time income, but many were still in financial difficulty.
2:33 “I got to watch the human condition unfold before me in those 11 years in the call center business, and that made me realize just how much public policy affects people’s daily lives and the choices people make.”
So, in 2004, John decided to get involved and break into the public policy arena; he wanted to start a company that took a marketing approach to advance free-market principles within public policy. John wrote a business plan and presented it to the founder and fundraising head of the Illinois Policy Institute. He bought into John’s vision and put him on the nonprofit’s board.
4:53 “I came to realize very quickly, and this is an entrepreneur lesson, that if you really want to get something off the ground, you have got to go in and take the reins yourself and ride that horse to the finish line.”
John took over fundraising for the Illinois Policy Institute in 2007 when he became CEO — and he started successfully and quickly raising money.
Developing a fundraising approach
John says that though he never had done nonprofit fundraising before becoming a CEO, he already had a simple fundraising formula thanks to his 20-year background in sales. John calls his formula the “virtuous circle of impact.”
Lay out for the donor what you’re going to do
Explain why it matters
Ask the donor to invest in your organization
After receiving the money, go back and say what you’ve done with the money and why it mattered — or say what went wrong, what you learned and ask for the money to set it right
John admits this is easier said than done. He stresses the importance of recognizing that donors don’t invest in activities, your effort or personality.
6:32 “Donors invest in. . . the vision you’re selling, the mission you’re selling to make that vision come to reality and then they invest in the strategy you lay out to make it all come to fruition.”
John says the most important but often hard-learned parts of fundraising is to avoid becoming the “project guy” — someone who focuses on getting donors to buy into specifics projects instead of the nonprofit’s overarching vision. Instead, John says only to talk about projects with donors to illustrate how your strategy is coming to life, how you’re achieving your mission and how that’s helping you impact the overall vision. The “grand strategy” is what John calls the overarching strategic objectives that make a nonprofit’s mission a reality.
8:30 “The donors only care about all of that (i.e. projects and programs) as it illustrates your grand strategy, your mission and your vision.”
John says 90% of donors who give over $1000 are focused on a nonprofit’s grand strategy, not its projects. He suggests finding out what motivates smaller donors to give and encouraging those who give for visionary reasons to increase their donations. He also suggests finding an automated way to do this so you don’t waste valuable time.
John speaks about the difference between the sports fan mentality and the vision/mission mentality in donors and how to tailor your fundraising approach accordingly. Donors with the sports fan mentality give for a sense of belonging. While they are loyal, but they tend to give less than those motivated by vision/mission. Focus on donors who have the vision/mission mentality.
Develop a marketing strategy
John says harmony across market segments is a sign of great marketing. A way to ensure harmony is to take time to define your nonprofit’s brand. Specifically, outline your vision, mission and grand strategy.
12:59 “If you don’t spend 100 percent of your time on vision, mission, . . . principles and values and your grand strategy in the beginning, what will happen is, as you unfold your implementation over time, you will be knocked around like [you’re] in a pinball machine and you won’t know how to get back to center.”
How to implement your new marketing strategy
John says as soon as nonprofits develop their marketing strategy, start selling it.
Develop a list of potential donors
Brainstorm and plan a fundraising pitch
Write the pitch
Develop the pitch into a presentation for donor meetings
Practice, practice, practice
16:00 “One of, I think, the hardest things for most people who are new to this is fear. . . . (16:21) Fear is normal. You have to accept that fear as normal; you have to let it pass through you and go out the other side. It’s like a jet engine: when that fear passes through you, it should thrust you forward to go. Actually make the phone call. Send the email. Show up for the meeting and make the presentation.”
How fundraisers can develop rapport skills
John says the most important lesson in becoming a good fundraiser is learning to develop a rapport with donors. It applies to every stage of the fundraising process, from email subject lines to the materials prepared for a donor meeting.
18:20 “It’s all about rapport — and the purpose of rapport development is to break down the barriers that each of us erects in our life to stop the onslaught of information flowing into our brains that is so distracting and overwhelming. In order to get to the presentation, to make the ask, you have to break through that. And rapport development skills are one of the most important ways to do that.”
The bottom line, John says, is you want to be heard and you can only do that with rapport. A unique selling proposition helps rapport grow. People want to invest in something unique that makes a difference nonprofit fundraisers should work to stand out. The unique selling point should reveal itself seamlessly in the presentation to a donor based on work you’ve already done.
John says to build rapport, fundraisers must always be authentic and care about donors. They also should figure out how to make what they’re doing timely and topical. This enables donors to see that what you’re doing matters, it’s relevant, and you are helping to further their personal education. Tracking email communication is essential. For example, track the number of your emails donors open and forward, and test for effective email subject lines.
Hiring the right people
John suggests thinking hard in advance about the kind of people you want to hire to your nonprofit. When he hires, he looks for four personality traits:
Driven by personal pride
Self-accountable
Curious
Tenacious
Hiring people with these traits enables John’s team to keep a culture of entrepreneurial spirit alive.
Communicating your nonprofit’s vision
John says when he first began learning about and doing media communications, he was most concerned with relaying numbers and data points.
37:47: “One of the insights I had fairly early on was that . . . you have to tell the story about policy at the point it intersects in individuals lives. . . . It forces you to think about an actual person living their life on a daily basis.”
John gives the example of a mother he saw at a gas station who sent her son inside to pay for a fixed amount of gas instead of pre-paying at the pump and filling up the whole tank. He knew an impending gas tax would tremendously affect this woman, her family and others like her. his work in policy could help her.
John urges nonprofit leaders to make one attitude change and take one action in response to this podcast.
41:33 “The attitude they should change is: Overcome your fear. There’s nothing more important for somebody running a nonprofit than to stop letting fear be in the way between you and boldness. Go for it. Be fearless. If you go forward and it doesn’t work out, there is no humiliation in that, there is no loss of pride, you are to be admired for having tried.”
In terms of the action, John says to write down what would happen if everything you hope for in the next four years comes true. Then, immediately go ask your biggest donor, tell them what you want to make happen, and ask for the biggest donation you’ve ever asked from them — maybe two or three times more than they’ve ever given you.
43:09 “If you’re going to make a difference in the world . . . you have to be willing to put yourself out there and do that thing I talked about earlier, which is: Be fearless.
For more information on the Illinois Policy Institute, visit illinoispolicy.org
To find out how to become an expert fundraiser, visit 7figurefundraising.com.