Every time I meet a new client, I try to capture my first impressions before I get to know them: Why does this organisation exist? What is it trying to achieve? What difference does it make? Who cares about its work, and why? I’m interested not just in the answers, but in how readily they emerge.
One thing I’ve learned is that the most significant barriers to transformational fundraising usually lie beyond the fundraising department. What’s possible often depends on an organisation’s ambition, leadership, culture and the way its people work together. I enjoy getting beneath the immediate problem, challenging assumptions and working with people to find a clearer way forward.
I love evidence, data and the detail that helps us understand what’s really happening, but philanthropy is ultimately about people. When I’m asked what philanthropists want to fund or how they expect to be treated, I come back to our shared humanity. Major donors have their own hopes, fears, passions and motivations, just like everyone else. Research helps us prepare, but we still have to listen to the person in front of us. And when we want someone to care about an organisation’s work, the story we tell matters just as much as the evidence behind it.
