The Art of Asking: Tactical Fundraising for Retreat Centers
Someone reached out after our last community call on purpose and fundraising and said, basically, "Yeah, yeah, that purpose stuff is great, but can we get tactical?" So I tried. I'm not sure I got tactical enough, but here's what I know after 25 years in this work.
First, let's kill the noise. There's always a new shiny thing—crowdfunding, peer-to-peer, digital campaigns. I have watched many organizations spend years (and salary!) trying to build digital fundraising programs (or whatever the newest trend is) and it goes nowhere. The truth is, the fundamentals of fundraising haven't really changed since our grandparents were doing this work in community centers and church basements.
Years ago, my intrepid Development Director at Hollyhock, Penelope Naldrett, and I went through all the people who had ever given a donation to Hollyhock and one thing stood out: Every person who gave a significant donation to Hollyhock had experienced Hollyhock first hand. Read that again. Every person who had donated a significant amount to Hollyhock, had had an experience at Hollyhock. Your potential donors are right in front of you! I was spending enormous energy trying to reach people who didn't know us, when our actual patrons were already in the room.
Think about your retreat center community as concentric circles. At the center are your founders—and I don't just mean the original founders. As Alexander from Shadowcliff reminded us on the call, founding is ongoing. The 650 people who hammered logs together over 25 years are founders too. Next come your active community, then past donors, then frequent guests, and finally your email openers and social media followers. The further out you go, the weaker the connection.
Did you miss the Community Call? Watch here.
