Discovering the Fun in Fundraising

Rishabh Lalani
7 min readJul 26, 2020

--

Close your eyes. Think of the first time you asked for something. Especially from your immediate family — granddad, mother, father, older sibling. Take a moment. What did you ask for?

I asked a group of people what they wanted and they came up with some relatable answers.

We used a whiteboard to put stickies on what we asked for as children/young people from our closest relatives

Chances are you would have asked for the same — your favourite food, a desired toy, a pet, or even permission to stay over with a friend.

And now think about what you did to make that happen? I asked the same group of people what skills they used. And here are some skills they used.

The skills everyone said they used to get what they wanted from their immediate relatives

What skills did you use? Think about it. Deciding on what to say, figuring out the quickest way to get it, creating plan B and C, or just simply throwing a tantrum. Eventually, most of us would have got what we wanted.

Think about your life so far. You’ve pretty much used the same skills to achieve most things. Fundraising in the social sector is no different. It’s about figuring out what you want, who you want it from, what they can give you and how best will it serve your purpose.

Four months ago, sitting at home in Bangalore, I saw the Covid-19 crisis unfold in India and bring the nation to its knees. When at 8 o’clock the Prime Minister addressed the nation and announced arguably the world’s strictest lockdown, I watched with bated breath.

I’ve been raising money for non-profit organisations for the last six years and the Covid-19 crisis caught me off guard. For someone used to charging a fee and working in structured engagements, I was face to face with a choice — raise money and help people OR wait for some work to come my way.

4 months, 45 organisations and INR 4.6 crores (USD 619k) later, it’s obvious that I made the former choice of stepping up. And all of this was voluntary. I used the same skills that people say they used to get their favourite food, toy or sports equipment. You can do it too!

I thought it’ll be useful for everyone to have structured mental model to understand what it takes to raise funds. And this works irrespective of the channel i.e. retail, High Net Worth, Corporate Social Responsibility or any other form of fundraising you want to try. I am putting the basic blocks here based on my experiences.

  • Be your own inspiration. The only inspiration that counts is your own, the one that comes from within. For you inspiration could be a personal connection with a cause or that you’ve been making contributions to a particular organisation. And if you haven’t found inspiration, go ahead and make your first contribution somewhere. See what feels the most relatable to you.

When a dear friend donated a substantial amount to Covid-19 relief, I knew what I had to do first. I decided to contribute to the causes I deeply resonated with. If I had not made the contribution, no amount of exhortation to the world would be authentic.

  • Go public. Don’t feel shy about seeking support for causes and asking for contributions. Let others know of successes and failures, share what you’ve learnt and be open to receiving all kinds of responses. Someone is always watching, and you don’t know how the causes could benefit from the attention. And yes, always end with an ASK.

~6.5% of the fundraising I’ve done for Covid-19 relief has been by sharing the message on Facebook and LinkedIn.

  • Reach out to everyone. When a disaster is unfolding, it makes no sense to hold back. I reached out to everyone, both warm and cold. While communicating on public platforms is important, reaching out to those on your emailing lists, WhatsApp contacts, phone book and other mediums are equally important.

One of the first things I did was to start writing emails and messages to everyone I knew. Similarly, I made earnest attempts to ask for connections wherever I didn’t know people.

  • The narrative is more critical than the story. A story is a sequence of events, but the sequencing defines the narrative. Narrative is everything. In a world where nearly a third of our citizens are hungry and stranded, you’ve got to establish need, credibility and action — sometimes in just a matter of seconds.

Using my contribution as a hook, I was able to spotlight a few good organisations, two of which received small grants from a corporate foundation (one of their staff is a friend on Facebook) in about 5 days of the post going up on social media.

  • Matchmaking is your superpower. Hundreds of great proposals get rejected because either they don’t reach the right person at the right time or because there is a mismatch between what the donor can give and what you’re asking for. Not everyone can give everything, but everyone can give something. Take some time to figure out what that is and make an ask (again if needed).

One of the organisations I was supporting wasn’t able to get through a donor who I thought was a perfect fit. I quickly figured from my contacts that they needed an internal recommendation. So we went back and figured who could recommend them and between the two of us we found two sponsors for the proposal. About 20 days later, the grant was approved.

  • Persistence and perseverance go a long way. Don’t take NO for an answer. Ask multiple times, ask multiple things, ask multiple people in the same organisation. Don’t be afraid of being a little irritating and also give the other person a way to gracefully say no to you. None of this is personal, everyone understands.

The CSR wing of a large impact investment company gave an organisation recommended by me a small grant simply because I kept writing to them about the campaign. Initially they declined, but I kept tweaking the ask till we found a fit. They finally decided to give a small grant and also run a matching campaign on a crowdfunding platform.

  • Find connectors-collaborators-believers. While reaching out to those you know and you don’t know, keep a keen eye out for those who will stand by you, will believe you and will work with you. Solidarity is a crucial weapon we have against a war like Covid-19, so hold on to any kind of support you can get.

As the campaign started generating steam, I started writing to donors — sometimes those who had fixed agendas of giving — and one of the donors not only gave small grants right away, but also asked if I needed more for many small organisations. About 27% of the funds are from just this one donor. Similarly, someone who I have never met has been supporting an organisation I recommended by getting small sums from friends and family across the world.

  • Build trust. Trust is a tentative thing during these times. The speed at which requests come and the sheer volume of it can be exhausting for everyone. Figuring out ways in which one can be transparent, to the point and supportive of both funders and nonprofits is the job of the person liaising. Unitise the cost, give context, report from time to time, and make it really easy.

In my case, I offered to help several donors deploy their funds and help them with the entire lifecycle. Similarly, I helped every non-profit that I knew or came through a reference. This increased credibility and trust multifold and was a win-win for the entire ecosystem.

  • Communicate, communicate, communicate. Closing every open loop and opening every possible door has kept this campaign alive. Every contribution has several checkpoints. Telling the donor why you need (narrative), what and how much you need (product), getting the donor to contribute (channel/platform), informing them on what happened with the contribution (servicing), continuously updating on new developments (engagement), and finally making them part of your story (believer). Keep communicating at all stages.

A little bit of miscommunication is forgivable, but if the level of miscommunication is too high, trust breaks down.

  • Take care of yourself. On many days, I have slept feeling anxious, worried if a donation will come through or if I’ll end up burning bridges with some donors, friends and supporters. Fundraising is a high octane and exhausting job. Rejection is a large part of the game, and you are most likely to feel dejected, sad, alone, and sometimes even broken. Forgiving oneself is key. Seek the solace of friends and family. But, get back up again. Acknowledge your efforts and move forward knowing that despite how large the problem is, you still stood up against it.

On one particular day I was told that whatever I am doing is pointless because the problem is so big. I was quite disappointed and I decided all I could was sleep off. I was back at it next day.

Remember that the unicorns come once in a blue moon, but cockroaches survive the toughest of disasters. So be a cockroach, do the small things you can do, because every small action pieces up together to become the big thing we are all waiting for.

A lot of encouragement and editorial feedback for this came from Arjun Mehra, Gurpriya Sidhu and Zubin Sharma. If you’d like to discuss more on this article, you can write to me on rishabh.lalani@gmail.com

--

--

Responses (1)