This is the first of a five-blog series where we unravel the five essential truths behind successful community and economic development fundraising to help you break through the barriers and achieve your desired outcomes.

Money Isn’t Everything in Fundraising

It’s an odd notion coming from professional fundraisers, we know. Yet hundreds of successful campaigns have proven this to be true and it serves us well as a foundation for each client engagement.

Of course, it is about money, but you cannot let your prospective investors perceive your initiative as just one more cause passing the hat. Nor should they see your multi-year strategic initiative simply as an attempt to increase an organizational budget.

So, then, what is it about?

What You’re Going to DO (That You Can’t Do Without Resources)

The notion of asking for money – especially for a multi-year commitment and/or in addition to their current commitment to your organization – inherently makes you responsible for informing an investor how you’ll spend it (and what the returns look like).

Fundamentally, it’s a question of how you articulate the campaign’s objective. We commonly see two approaches:

1. Raise as much money as you can and decide how to spend it later (money-driven fundraising)
2. A targeted goal to fund an ambitious vision for the future with specific goals and outcomes (value-driven fundraising)

When put in these terms, it’s easy to see why money-driven fundraising usually fails and why value-driven fundraising succeeds. Investors need confidence in your program ahead of your ask, and it’s far more than a pie chart. You need to draw a straight line between funds and specific outcomes that paints a picture of future value for their family, business, and community. This is what they want and deserve to know — and it’s one of the most powerful tools for recruiting investors and campaign leaders alike when they ask for more details.

In our experience, the ice-breaker answer sounds like this: “We’re pursuing a bold, ambitious multi-year plan aligned with community needs and opportunities outlined here,” and then you show them the plan. The key is providing enough detail about your fundraising goals, strategic components, and tactical actions to inspire their commitment to new or increased funding.

Board-level budget reports are not necessary, but costs for programs, projects, and people associated with plan execution should be conveyed in your fundraising materials. For key strategic investors, you may need to drill down further to include cost projections for travel, research & data, or consultants’ fees.

Your fundraising campaign goal is simply the cost of implementing your multi-year strategic initiative and the components therein. Accordingly, you should be able to explain and defend that cost with projected budget needs to the exact extent that this investor needs to know.

This is fundraising driven by value and a return on investment, not just another money-driven campaign with no defined outcomes and destined to fail.

Community Impact and Benefit

As an organization whose mission is community and economic development, one can’t assume it’s self-evident that your fundraising campaign will benefit the community. Goals and outcomes require absolute clarity to inspire an investor that their projected benefits will outweigh the costs (e.g. the money given to your fundraising campaign).

There are numerous ways to measure and document your plan’s impact and value to the community in terms of economic growth, wealth creation, place-based improvement, workforce & talent, or business climate. HOW you articulate it is not as important as THAT you articulate it. Before prospective investors decide if — or how much — they will invest, they need to know the plan’s projected impact, how you will measure it, and how you will connect the dots between your efforts and macro-level community outcomes. 

We’ll be adding a post in a few weeks that details some of the best ways to present measurable goals.

Investor Benefit and Return on Investment

Addressing the age-old question, "What's in it for me?" is crucial for securing investor buy-in and crystallizes why your fundraising efforts should not start and stop with money. While investors certainly care about “the greater good,” their willingness to consider a significant investment will heavily depend on the expected or anticipated benefit to their business or organization. If you can display a direct connection between their level of investment and their bottom line, you’re far more likely to increase your investment.

This is far more than a menu of benefits by investment level; it’s hard number projections based on relevant data. Those numbers, coupled with the softer and more subjective benefits to investment, offer investors a compelling set of reasons to commit. Some of those subjective benefits may include:

• An improved business climate
• A “place at the table”
• Opportunities to participate in specific elements of the strategic initiative
• And more 

Choose Value to Fuel Your Fundraising

Successful fundraising transcends the mere need for money with unknown outcomes; it revolves around communicating the value proposition and impact of proposed initiatives.

Money serves as a tool to measure value, but true success lies in articulating what you aim to accomplish and why. By shifting the focus from money to mission, organizations can inspire confidence, foster partnerships, and drive meaningful change in their communities.

If you need a hand achieving this in your community or for your organization, we’re always here for a consultation.

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