There are no "fundraising" problems in the nonprofit sector. There are only leadership problems that manifest in poor fundraising results.

In 25 years, I'm yet to discover a "fundraising" problem that wasn't rooted in a leadership decision (or indecision) somewhere in the organization. In fact, this is a realization I had while writing my second book, the Amazon Best-Seller, 101 Biggest Mistakes Nonprofits Make and How You Can Avoid Them . In talking with over 70 nonprofit orgs and their C-suite leaders, it became clear to me that fundraising results are a lagging indicator of leadership effectiveness.

In fact, in DickersonBakker's 2023 study, A Better Way: A National Study on Nonprofit Leadership & Fundraising in a Rapidly Changing World , we found that there are significant gaps in what staff and c-suite leaders in charities believe about leadership effectiveness.

These gaps lead to misalignment in expectations and outcomes that ultimately cause organizations to fail in critical areas like fundraising effectiveness.

For example...

When I hear an organization talking about their fundraising problems then I get under the hood and discover things like this:

✔ An org buys an expensive CRM to enhance fundraising, but there's no budget allocated for training and onboarding staff to use it effectively

✔ New fundraising staff are hired, told to "hit the ground running", and given the expectation of "closing the revenue gap" within the current fiscal year (with no real onboarding, training, or effort to equip them for success)

✔ Hiring processes are skirted and appropriate candidate vetting processes are skipped because "we just need to fill the role", leading to weak and inexperienced candidate pools and bad hires

✔ Orgs hire expensive consultants but then don't follow their counsel when it doesn't align with their preconceived beliefs about how things should work

✔ Philanthropy is relegated to a "necessary evil" that funds the "real" mission, instead of a core component of the organization's overall mission

✔ Organizational executives refuse to participate in philanthropy because they have "too much real work to do" on the program side of the organization

✔ Thank you letters aren't sent to any supporter who gives less than $25, because that's "the threshold" necessary to maintain an arbitrary ROI on gratitude

✔ Major friction-causing problems in an org's online giving experience are allowed to fester because of internal egos and turf wars

✔ Operational cost overruns are accepted, resulting in impossible "stretch" goals being forced onto an already overloaded and under resourced development team

✔ You lose your best fundraisers every two years because leaders refuse to make key investments in infrastructure and talent, and because mediocrity and toxic behaviors are accepted norms in the office

So, no. You don't have a "fundraising" problem.

You have a leadership problem.

Fix that, and the money will flow again.

In this short video I share a little more about this concept and why I think it's the most important challenge facing our industry.

Six Qualities of a High-Impact Leader

We used to think that being a good leader meant that you were someone who exemplified characteristics like:

• Having a take-charge personality
• Being the foremost expert in the room
• Always having the answers
• Having great charisma
• Being strong and directive
• Keeping people in the dark so they must rely on you

There are many people who still today believe that this is what leadership looks like.

I’ve even worked in companies and for people who posture and behave in line with those characteristics. Maybe you have too.

Those are actually some of the unhealthiest characteristics of someone in a leadership role, and they often lead to serious organizational damage when they aren’t effectively mitigated.

Instead, let me share with you what I believe are the six essential qualities of a high impact leader today:

• Integrity - They can be taken at their word. They live honestly and speak with candor and clarity.
• Humility - They consider others needs before their own and seek to amplify others instead of focusing on self-promotion.
• Courage - They are willing to stand for what they believe and what is right, even when they might have to stand alone.
• Forgiveness - They keep short accounts and don’t hold grudges against others.
• Encouragement - They understand that motivating people requires giving them hope and inspiring them by celebrating their past success and their future potential.
• Perseverance - They keep moving forward, even when faced with the most difficult of circumstances. They embrace realism but espouse hope for the future.