Great Fundraisers Leave: And That's Ok

Too often we place all of our eggs in one basket - the great fundraiser who will help us reach our stretch goals and build strong relationships with people who will support our organizations. The one basket then crushed when that great fundraiser moves on to their next challenge - and if we’re not prepared, we’re left with a gaping hole to fill.

Great fundraisers are driven by their passion and skills to build relationships with people who in turn will be called to support the missions of our organizations. Great fundraisers take us to the next level. And once we’re there, they often leave our organizations to seek that new position with an equally compelling mission they can help advance. It’s who great fundraisers are.

When we hire great people, we know they will leave us. No matter how great the job is. No matter how well you compensate them. No matter what. Eventually, everyone leaves their jobs to seek that next step, the next challenge, a change of pace or location, a fresh start.

 The key for your organization is not to focus on people leaving. No, the key to building a strong organization that can weather anyone leaving is to focus on creating a culture that is hard to leave, so that the high performers stay longer than they had planned. When we accept the inevitable, we can’t control and focus on the environment that we can influence, we add infinite eggs to our basket and build momentum for our organizations, not just pin our hopes to one star, great fundraiser performer.

 

“Hard-To-Leave” Organizations

Hard-to-leave organizations are those that go beyond providing a paycheck or benefits. They are organizations that are highly aligned with their employees from top to bottom (and their volunteers!).

As a mission-based organization focused on improving the world with your special focus and expertise you are ahead of most for profit companies in terms of vision and mission alignment. Your team has joined the organization to advance your cause, and most of them probably have a high passion quotient for your mission and vision. However, believing in the cause is not enough.

Hard-to-leave organizations operate in a manner highly aligned with their mission and vision in three areas: how people work together on a day-to-day basis; how individuals are inspired and helped to achieve their own goals within the structure of the organizations;  and how the organization values its team members. Organizations that are fully aligned from vision to the individual are the ones that attract great talent and become hard-to-leave. 

 

3 Things To Do Now To Build a “Hard-To-Leave” Organization

1.     Appreciation. Based on research at several distinguished universities including Harvard and Wharton, the power of appreciation is measurable and appreciably positive. In one study, teams that felt appreciated outperformed those that didn’t by 14%. (In time, that’s 5.6 hours per person per week more productive.) And appreciation is easy to demonstrate, simply through the words “please” and “thank you.” If you’re like me rushing through the day, it might feel superfluous, or you might think you’re showing your appreciation in every interaction with your staff. While I’m confident that you are thanking your donors, supporters and volunteers regularly, are you showing that same appreciation with your employees?

 Try this: for one week, go out of your way to say “please” and “thank you” in your interactions electronic, written and spoken, and see what the difference is in how people respond to you.

Go further: At your next staff meeting, end the meeting with an Appreciation Moment. Ask everyone to stand up and find three people in the room they appreciate and share their thanks. Give examples such as “i appreciate that Donald came in early to make sure we were set up for the meeting,” or “I appreciate that Jane brought some typos in my document to my attention.” After five minutes everyone will have shared their appreciation and have been appreciated and the energy will be high. Do this again and again.

          You can read more about the power of thanks here and here.

2.        Ask people what they want to learn or achieve in their positions and or with the organization. Too often we give people job descriptions and tell them what their performance goals are. Take a moment in your next one-on-one meeting to dig deeper into your colleague’s goals and ambitions. You may find she has hidden talents that can be utilized in the job. You may find out that he is bored and uninspired. No matter what, listen to their aspirations, and then help them chart a path to achieve what they want out of the job, beyond the goals of the job description.

3.         Check the values that drive behavior in the office: is everything moving towards respect and collaboration? A culture of an organization is found not in platitudes on a wall but in how people work together day in and day and face and resolve challenges together. It’s how people behave. Do you have clear expectations on how people will behave with each other? Does everyone understand what is meant by “excellence” or “teamwork” or “innovation” or “humility?” Get specific with descriptors for each of the values you undoubtedly have so that everyone shares the same interpretation of those all-important words. Need help? We recommend The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni.

When your great fundraisers believe in your mission and vision, feel appreciated for their contributions, are working towards achieving their own ambitions within their work and workplaces, and feel that the organization respects its people with its behavior, they will stay longer and achieve more for you.  They will still leave. And that’s okay. Because when they do, you will be well-equipped to fill their spot with another great fundraiser who can’t wait to be part of your organization.

 

Victoria Silverman