Professional Development

Storytelling is so important to fundraising. Storytelling is so important to human connection and conversation. Storytelling is just so important.

“We live in stories the way fish live in water,”says Daniel Taylor in a book called Tell Me a Story: The Life-Shaping Power of Our Stories. We “breath them in and out. Stories “buoy and feed us.”

Robert Fulford sees storytelling as “the juncture where facts and feelings meet, the bundle in which we wrap the truth, hope and dread.” Fulford explains that narrative is how we explain and teach and entertain ourselves.

We tell stories about situations and causes and other people. We also create stories about ourselves and share them through our need for self-disclosure. (See the companion piece in today’s blog…self-disclosure and neuroscience.)

Dan McAdams says, “Narratives guide behavior in every moment, and frame not only how we see the past but how we see ourselves in the future…. We find that when it comes to the big choices people make…they draw on these stories implicitly…”

I read all this in Pat Thompson’s great piece “Being the Change We Want,” May 2009, focusing on vocational renewal. Read Thompson’s monograph. It’s wonderful!

And here’s something I heard on NPR, also about storytelling: “True as remembered by the storyteller.” I don’t remember if I heard that on NPR or read it somewhere.

So I’m telling you a story. Or you’re telling me a story. Is the story true? Yes…it is the truth that I remember…my understanding and interpretation of the situation and the characters and the struggle and the triumph… True as I remember it – and I’m telling the story. Or you’re telling the story.

I tell stories of the Vietnam War, a seminal period of my life. I tell the stories one way. And then I was checking with my brother Alain and he told some of the stories a different way. True, as told by each of us as a different storyteller.

Recently a colleague commented that workshops/conferences are “gateways” to professional development. I like that word “gateways” and what it connotes.

We can learn key principles in the body of knowledge. Reaffirm and reinforce what we already know. Identify a new point to share with boards and bosses. Stimulate thinking about the work that we do.

But gateways are only gateways. What are next steps?

— Application. Do the stuff. Test and modify how we do the stuff.

— Learn more through reading. My blogs certainly recommend lots of readings in this sector and field. But really good professionals read beyond the nonprofit sector and the fundraising field. Read in tangential fields. Read in different sectors and fields. I recommend lots of readings there, too.

— Create conversations with peers. Ask cage-rattling questions to stimulate more conversations.

By the way, check out these gateways: FundCoaches. TDC. Third Sector New England.Check out my workshop/training schedule, too.

Philip Glass once said (and I’m paraphrasing)…You have to learn the technique so you can choose to go against it or approach the issue differently than the particular technique. He said we start from one point – the technique – to find another way.

Learn the body of knowledge and best practice. Learn the techniques. Then you can adjust or go against that technique. That’s when you can have a professional opinion that matters.

Glass’ comment helps me better articulate my frustration with opinions that are not based on sufficient knowledge or experience or expertise. Just think about those board members or bosses who know their own work but don’t know your work – and still demand the right to direct you and stop you from doing what’s best.

And this applies to all work – from fundraising to marketing/communications, from governance to management, and to your core program.

Check out research on women’s giving from the  Women’s Philanthropy Institute. No surprise, women give differently than men. We know that. But wait till you read “Women Give 2012.” Very useful information for your fundraising program.

Sad faces, tough stories…the truth…. That’s what works with donors. Happy faces suggest you don’t need my money! Read Jeff Brooks, 07-25-11, “Sad faces make better fundraising.” Read Jeff’s 08-22-12 blog, “Don’t hide the rough stuff from your donors.”

I’m a long-time subscriber to NPQ. As a volunteer, I write a web column for NPQ.

Important and useful articles about what’s happening in the sector…from measures to meanings, good boards to bad, sector mess-ups to sector successes, social justice to smart business.

This is a thinking magazine, a strategic magazine. With an active web presence. I think all fundraisers ought to subscribe.

And just like NPR, this magazine needs your contributions and mine. I’m a subscriber and I’m a donor, too. Every year I give a contribution. How about you? I hope you’ll subscribe. We need a stronger sector. I hope you’ll give a contribution, too. We need this magzine to stick around.

I’m home now – back from my annual July sojourn at Saint Mary’s University of MN. I teach in the Masters Program in Philanthropy and Development there. What a marvelous experience each year. Intense. Broad and deep conversations. Cage-rattling questions (CRQs).

Every year, I collect CRQs: those cage-rattling questions designed to stimulate meaningful conversation that produces learning and leads to change. It takes courage to ask CRQs. Thanks, Cohort 21, for these great questions generated through our governance course together:

1. What are the read flags that we need to raise / be aware of?

2. How far are we willing to go if it means dismantling / confronting those who are most powerful…in our organizations, in our communities?

3. We’ve thought of everything. Now what did we forget?

I also collect bumper stickers from my SMU colleagues. Those catchy little phrases. Those important insights communication in a small snippet. How about these?

1. Inaction is cover up. (We were talking about Penn State and Komen and so much more.)

2. Understand how much power you have and use it wisely.

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Did you see the “call out” in The Agitator blog, “Flat Earth Fundraising: Preventing Bottom-line Shipwrecks”? Roger Craver cites 3 books that can help your organization avoid the shipwreck:

— Ken Burnett’s “landmark and breakthrough” book Relationship Fundraising: A Donor Based Approach to the Business of Raising Money, published in 1992. This is a must-read for the serious professional.

— Building Donor Loyalty by Adrian Sargeant and Elaine Jay, “the next major treatise (2004) in fundraising navigation,” says Roger. Another must-read for the serious professional.

— And three years later (2007), Tom Ahern and Simone Joyaux “came forth with a jam-paccked book of additional insights” in Keep Your Donors: The Guide to Better Communications and Stronger Relationships.

Imagine how proud Tom and I are…recognized by The Agitator…and highlighted with Ken and Adrian and Elaine.

Have you read Growing Philanthropy in the U.S. yet? Lots of interesting insights. Lots of challenges for you, your organization, and the sector.

This report came out of a summit in June 2011, put together by Adrian Sargeant, leading fundraising researcher. I participated along with 30+ other people.

Here are the 4 major themes:

1. Enhancing the quality of donor relationships.

2. Developing public trust and confidence.

3. Identifying new audiences, channels, and forms of giving with strong potential for growth.

4. Improving the quality of fundraising training and development.

Read the full report, posted on my website. Read the executive summary. Start talking! Host a conversation with your fundraising colleagues through your AFP or AHP or CASE chapter / region or any other professional association. That’s what AFP RI did. Talk about the findings with your development staff and your board’s fund development committee. Explore. Talk. Learn. Change.

Read my web column about social media at the Nonprofit Quarterly. I just rant and rant about the excessive hype.

And here’s more: I was listening to Sherry Turkle, professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology at MIT. Turkle writes lots about technology. Here’s what I heard – in my words:

— We want Facebook to do the work of connecting for us. But it really can’t.

— We want social media to do the work of conversations for us. How sad. True conversation is so much more than social media. Read Theodore Zeldin’s beautiful little book Conversation: How Talk Can Change Our Lives.

— Our response to social media is lots about FOMA (fear of missing out).

— We’re fleeing from real connection, deep human interaction. Instead, we embrace the quick, transient, ephemeral links of social media. As Turkle notes, “connection is different than a bond.”

— Turkle also noted that we’re “never where we are where we are.” We’re with a group of friends but we’re texting others. We’re at a board meeting but we’re doing our email.

Read The Atlantic‘s article, “Is Facebook Making Us Lonely?” Consider these research facts – not personal opinion – research facts!

— “Facebook users have higher levels of total narcissism, exhibitionishm, and leadership than Facebook nonusers…. In fact, it could be argued that Facebook specifically gratifies the narcissistic individual’s need to engage in self-promoting and superficial behavior.” We create a persona, the person we want to be. That’s what we display in social media…the desired self, not the true self. The Internet allows us to mediate a distance between ourselves and others.

— “Our online communities become engines of self-image, and self-image becomes the engine of community.”

— “What Facebook has revealed about human nature…is that a connection is not the same thing as a bond.”

We all know that social media is relentless. And self curation is constant. Lots of connections don’t produce a group. More connections don’t create meaningful relationships. Relationships are messy. That’s life.

But there’s something else sad about social media, the Internet itself. We cannot remove the past. In real life, we change. We leave behind, hopefully, our follies and mistakes. People grow and can change for the better. But the Internet never forgets. So the new and better you and me…thwarted, compromised.

Read Sherry Turkle’s book, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other. I think this is a must-read for all fundraisers and digital staff and the CEO, too.

P.S. I just love it when others criticize social media – or at least question it. For example, check out Jeff Brooks‘ infographic, 03-09-12. I hope you already subscribe! And read Jaron Lanier’s book You Are Not A Gadget or Maggie Jackson’s Distracted? Two big shockers. Enjoy!

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1. Keep scaling those endless difficult but achievable hills. Thanks to Seth Godin. (February 1, 2012)

2. Make sure you know who your customers are (e.g., donors, prospects, clients, board members, whatever). Thanks to Seth again. (February 6, 2012)

3. Grow your email list with 18 different strategies. Thanks to Karen Zapp. (February 2, 2012)

4. Understand what customer dissatisfaction is. Thanks to Seth yet again. (February 6, 2012)

5. This is a common question – all too often, answered poorly. “Not too often. Don’t want to make the donors upset.” Forget those answers. Instead, read Ken Burnett’s answer. Ken is the founder of SOFII (Showcase of Fundraising Innovation and Inspiration). Ken introduced the term “relationship fundraising,” and his eponymous book is a must-read. Ken’s answer to “how often should you ask” is exactly the right answer, the best answer, the only answer. Share it with your staff and board members.

6. Visit Marco Kathuria’s site mkcreative. Some interesting info. Some good interviews. You might find Marco’s recent interview with me insightful. Read Tom Ahern’s interview, too. Check out the blog about making a fundraising video and the interview of with Gail Perry and stuff about Apple, and more. And mine, too.