Finding new donors is not that different than finding friends as an adult

If you’re anything like me, then making friends as an adult is hard. When we’re kids and in school, we have built-in opportunities to make friends. But I’ve often wondered, “where am I supposed to find my people if it’s not already set up for me?”

When I'm feeling moments of resolve to make new friendships and connections in my adult life, here are some of the things I've tried.

• Making small talk with my neighbors
• Getting to know my coworkers
• Connecting with fellow college alumni who live in my area
• Meeting mutual friends at birthday parties and other celebrations

You might be asking yourself, “how does this relate to fundraising?” Well, finding new donors can feel just as daunting as finding new friends as an adult. A lot of fundraising leaders who come to GiveMN for coaching ask questions like:

• Where am I supposed to find people who care about my mission?
• How am I supposed to ask people I barely know for money?
• Why is it so hard to find new donors? 

To begin, let’s ignore the fundraising implications for a moment. Imagine you want to make new friends, but you stay at home and wonder, “why is no one coming to my house to be friends with me?” It’s because you’re not putting yourself out there!

As fundraisers, we believe deeply in the mission we’re supporting, and sometimes we forget that other people aren’t thinking about our organization every day like we do. Expecting people to show up unprompted and give us money probably isn’t the most successful strategy.

Now imagine we try some of the strategies we might use to make friends in our personal lives:

• Telling people about the mission of your organization when they inevitably ask, “so, what do you do for work?”
• Encouraging your coworkers to enroll in payroll deduction or make a donation
• Think about people in your network that share your values. Chances are, they’ll probably care about the work you’re doing if they’re values-aligned!
• Building peer-to-peer fundraising strategies to meet people in your existing donors’ and board members’ networks

Fundraising is all about developing authentic relationships with others. When we have strong relationships, the support for our missions will follow. If we can build trust with others, it’s easier to say something like, “Hey, I really appreciate how aligned we are. I’m raising $500 for the organization I work for during this special campaign we’re running to [insert important mission work here!]. Would you support that work with a $100 gift, too?”

If you can be a good friend, you can be a good fundraiser!

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For in-depth strategies to help you develop your donor acquisition plan this year, there’s still time to sign up for our RaiseMN Learn-Along, “Build Your Donor Pool: The Acquisition Playbook,” on Wednesday, February 14, 2023 at 10am CST. Secure your spot today!

Courtney Backen is GiveMN's director of community and capacity development.