The Influential Fundraiser E-Book

Bernard Ross

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 356

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2008

Beschreibung

How to apply the latest developments in psychology and neurology for better fundraising and influencing skills Leading fundraising expert Bernard Ross offers an alternative yet effective model for asking and influencing potential donors and peers, using the latest techniques developed in the neural and psychological sciences. He shows individuals how to make a compelling ask to mid- and high-value donors, win board members over to a new campaign strategy, convince reluctant colleagues to commit to their ideas, and confidently handle the objections of a skeptical venture philanthropist. Bernard Ross and Clare Segal (London, UK) are Directors of the Management Centre, the United Kingdom's largest nonprofit management consultancy and training organization.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Praise

Title Page

Copyright Page

Acknowledgements

Dedication

PREFACE

Introduction

A Systematic Approach to Influence

Exploring the 5Ps of Influence

More Help

Fundraising and Beyond

Chapter 1 - INFLUENCE—WHAT IT IS AND WHY YOU NEED IT IN YOUR FUNDRAISING

You Are the Success Secret!

Why Influence Now?

Defining Influence

Why We Sometimes Can’t Influence

People Are “Messy”—So Is Influence

Use the 5Ps Framework—But Use It All!

Summary

Part One - Passion

Chapter 2 - FOCUSING YOUR PASSION—INTELLIGENTLY

Successful Influencers—Focusing and Sharing Passion

Emotional Engagement

Emotional Intelligence

Summary

Chapter 3 - UNDERSTANDING DONOR MOTIVATIONS

Motivation—The Driver to Action

Motivation Misconceptions

Two Elements to Consider

Adapting Herzberg to Fundraising and Influence

Motivating Commercial Sponsors—The Midtown Case

Influencing Sponsors—Features, Benefits, and Motivators

How Does This Work in Practice?

Summary

Part Two - Proposal

Chapter 4 - MAKING YOUR CASE

Writing for Fundraising Influence

Challenges with Cases

=mc Case Framework

Five Key Questions to Drive the Structure of a Case

Good Written Communication

Metaphors

More Than Just Words

Summary

Part Three - Preparation

Chapter 5 - SHAPING OUTCOMES

Tell Yourself What You Want

Shaping a Well-Formed Outcome

Outcome Before Means

Summary

Chapter 6 - BUILDING SELF-CONFIDENCE—THE INNER GAME OF INFLUENCE

Confidence Is Key

Anchoring—Feeling a Strong Response

Modeling—Be Curious About Others and Learn

Mental Mentors—Asking for Help

Summary

Part Four - Persuasion

Chapter 7 - BUILDING RAPPORT

Why Bother with Rapport?

Aligning Your Communication: Three Channels

Let Your Body Talk—The Three “M”s of Rapport Building

Beyond Body Language and Voice

Rapid Rapport

Leading—Taking Control

Summary

Chapter 8 - SPEAKING THE LANGUAGE OF INFLUENCE

Why Some Professionals Have More Success

Speaking the Same Language—Sensory Systems

Working with Language in a Fundraising Case

Curiosity and Flexibility

How Do We Communicate with Lots of People at Once?

Summary

Chapter 9 - UNDERSTANDING THEIR POINT OF VIEW—PERCEPTUAL POSITIONS

Positioning for Fundraising Influence

Choosing the Best “Positions” for Fundraising

Lighten Up, Spock

Position 4—Getting the Big Picture

Using All Four Perceptual Positions to Reach an Answer

Summary

Part Five - Persistence

Chapter 10 - HELPING DONORS SAY “YES”

More Than Language

Loose Talk—Loose Thinking

Three Unhelpful Opinion-Forming Filters

Beware Positive Filters

Mental Decision-Making Software—Metaprograms

Summary

Chapter 11 - DEALING WITH OBJECTIONS

The Nine Fundraising No’s

Anticipate the Killer Question

Helping Donors Decide—The Secret Is Timing

Summary

Chapter 12 - CONCLUSION

Five Last Principles to Take You Forward

Join Us and Others in Learning

Appendix A - ACCESSING EYE CUES

Appendix B - USING RICHER LANGUAGE

Appendix C - TRANSLATING YOUR CASE—MATCHING PREFERENCES IN PROPOSALS

Appendix D - INFLUENCING IN A GROUP

GLOSSARY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

THE AUTHORS

Index

Praise forThe Influential Fundraiser

“In this book two of the UK’s most influential fundraising thinkers get inside the mind of the donor, and produce some unique, fascinating, and useful insights. Essential reading for the donor-centric fundraiser.”—Giles Pegram, director of fundraising NSPCC UK

“Breaking news ...! You have the potential to be your organization’s biggest single competitive advantage ...! You can make a real difference in your fundraising by applying Ross and Segal fundraising influential principles. In my job as international vice president for fundraising at one of the largest development organizations working with people with disability in the poorest countries of the world, I need breakthrough and challenging ideas to stimulate and lead our fundraising teams. I definitively found plenty of those in this must-read exceptional book.”—Pierre-Bernard Le Bas, vice president, international fundraising, CBM (Christian Blind Mission)

“Bernard Ross never ceases to amaze me with his ability to engage people’s attention and make individuals and groups want to do his bidding. I have wanted to bottle those secrets for myself. This book shares some of Bernard’s secrets, and gives the reader an insight into how to influence people. In today’s competitive fundraising environment, this book has to represent a wonderful return on investment!”—Caroline Harper, CEO, Sightsavers International

“This book will help you to get right inside the minds of donors—from the way they take in information to how they make vital decisions. It shows you how to overcome objections and, most importantly, how to develop a win-win relationship that will stand the test of time.”—Isabella Navarro Grueter, CFRE, development director, Universidad de Monterrey, Mexico

“This book is critically important for CEOs, board members, volunteers and fundraisers, and anyone else who seeks to persuade others to support their cause because it truly helps you to get right inside the mind of a donor, board member, or someone whom you seek to influence. It helps you understand how they listen and perceive information and then helps you understand how best to communicate persuasively. It is based on serious research, anecdotal evidence, and the rich experience of the authors. While thought provoking and challenging, it is at the same time intensely practical and therefore immediately useful. If you’re looking for new ways to share your vision and mission and inspire others to join with you, this book will become your “Bible.”—Geoffrey W. Peters, president and CEO, CDR Fundraising Group, Bowie, Maryland

“The Influential Fundraiser is dazzling! This is the most original piece of work I’ve seen in the field of fundraising in years—yet it’s down-to-earth, wonderfully readable, and eminently practical. If you’re involved in fundraising, whether major gifts, legacies, direct mail, telefundraising, or just about any other speciality, do yourself a favor: buy this book! If you follow Bernard Ross and Clare Segal’s advice, you’ll be sure to raise more money.”—Mal Warwick, author, and president, Mal Warwick and Associates

“How curious are you? Curious enough to dive into the most recent work of Ross and Segal as they apply their vast insights and intuition into developing professional fundraisers? Packed with common sense, intellectual rigor, and practical steps, The Influential Fundraiser explores the psychology of twenty-first century philanthropy and provides key tools for the fundraiser to succeed in this challenging charitable environment.”—Sue-Anne Wallace, CEO, Fundraising Institute Australia

“Ross and Segal bring fresh perspectives and a host of new ideas to the fundraiser-donor relationship, and The Influential Fundraiser itself is an easy and fascinating read that will be useful on many levels. They have pioneered a new approach in fundraising that will be used for decades to come.”—Paulette V. Maehara, CFRE; CAE; president and CEO, Association of Fundraising Professionals

“Giving will always be intensely personal, so it only makes sense that psychology can play a key role in understanding and approaching donors. The Influential Fundraiser is an outstanding volume that can help not just fundraisers, but board members and others, win over major donors and connect them to giving opportunities that will make a difference to the organization and the donor. Fundraisers at every level will find Bernard Ross’s and Clare Segal’s ideas on how to improve the ways they talk to and win over high value donors exciting and stimulating.”—Lindsay Boswell, CEO, Institute of Fundraising UK

Copyright © 2009 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved.

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eISBN : 978-0-470-47218-7

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks to our outstanding editor, Allison Brunner, whose encouragement and—occasional—cajoling helped make this project a reality. We can teach her nothing about influence she doesn’t know. . . .

Thanks also to our many friends and colleagues in The Management Centre who provided help, advice, and challenge when it was needed. Special thanks to Angela Cluff for her support and inspiration.

Finally, thanks to copyeditors Mickey Butts and David Horne for their invaluable advice.

In memory of our dear and inspirational friend Beto Viesca

PREFACE

Like so many books, this one started in a cafe. The cafe in question was Bertorelli’s in London’s Soho, and the time almost ten years ago. We were sitting opposite an anxious Caroline, the development director of a leading medical research unit in the United Kingdom. Through our consulting company, The Management Centre (=mc), we had been successfully advising her for some months on how to approach major donors in the United Kingdom and the United States to raise funds for her research campaign.

But on this particular day Caroline had suddenly asked to see us for what she’d called “emergency influence coaching.” She had unexpectedly been invited to travel to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, in two days’ time. There she was to make a ten-minute, one-time, $25 million fundraising presentation to members of the extremely wealthy Saudi royal family and their Western advisers. This was a transformational opportunity for Caroline and for her cause. And she wanted us to advise her on . . . well, it seemed like everything:

• What information she needed before she left to make sure she was prepared

• How to frame the case to make it powerful and memorable in ten minutes

• Whether to mention the royal family’s previous history of heart disease

• At what point to ask for the donation—the beginning or end of the presentation

• Whom specifically to ask—the advisers or the prince himself

• What she could wear that wouldn’t offend

• Where to find out about Muslim philanthropic culture

The list went on.

We had to hold our hands up and say we didn’t know the answer to many of her questions because this was a culture and a situation we weren’t familiar with. We weren’t even sure what really were key questions and what were irrelevant. But we gave her our best advice, and we drafted the PowerPoint slides on a slightly stained napkin we still treasure.

Caroline made the presentation. And the good news is she got the money. As important, she came back and gave us challenging feedback on our advice. In some areas we were spot on. In others—particularly, it’s sad to say, some of the “surefire” principles we had passed on as established influence and fundraising practice—we couldn’t have been more wrong. Here are two simple examples:

• For her presentation, Caroline was required to wear a burka—the head-to-toe robe worn by some Muslim women. All the hints and tips we’d given her on positive body language were wasted, as the only visible part of Caroline was her eyes. Luckily we had also given her advice about eye contact. However, Caroline’s feedback made us realize just how much we had underestimated the significance of this subtle communication element. Of course, we knew that different people and different cultures used eye contact differently. But from Caroline’s experience we learned there are distinctive patterns to this variation. And from our subsequent study we discovered that by matching the pattern you can create powerful rapport—even from behind a burka.

• Caroline decided to use the classic “selling the vision” approach for her fundraising ask, or solicitation. But at least half the individuals in the audience looked puzzled. It seemed from her report back that the conventional teaching on solicitation techniques and case structure didn’t necessarily work in cultures outside the United States. (Nor, indeed, does it work these days even within the United States with the newer, younger venture philanthropists.) So we began to think about how contemporary research from psychology and neurology could help fundraisers construct flexible, individually tailored cases. Cases that would have an impact on a wide range of different donors.

That whole experience and several others made us think more systematically about the key ideas behind influence for fundraisers. It made us wonder if there were some principles and approaches that would work in settings ranging from a multi-million-dollar presentation to a royal family for an international initiative, to talking to a local shop owner about giving $200 to the annual carnival pageant, or to persuading the board of a corporation to make significant social investment.

It made us wonder at the same time how donors and their motivations were changing, and if some approaches that worked just five years ago didn’t work any more.

This book is the result of that wondering—an organized wondering that turned into a wide-ranging study of influence—what it is, and how it works. It took us several years of action research to develop a robust contemporary model for influence that was relevant for fundraisers keen to get the result their cause needed. Of course our model also had to embody ethical behavior toward donors.

We’ve spent another three years testing our model in every part of the United States and Europe—and then more widely in Ethiopia, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Thailand, India, China, and many other countries. The techniques have also been tested in a range of philanthropic fields—arts and culture, education, environmental causes, health care, and international relief.

The insights on how to achieve influence contained in this book are based primarily on that distillation of our practical experience as management consultants, coaches, and fundraisers working in the nonprofit world.

But we’re happy to acknowledge that we’ve also built on the work of others. For those of you familiar with psychology, social psychology, and personal development, you’ll recognize that we’ve drawn knowledge and learning from the following:

• Different psychology disciplines, from Cognitive Behavior Therapy to Myers-Briggs. These disciplines offer profound insights into the way people make choices.

• From the personal development agenda, we’ve been inspired by Anthony Robbins’s work on outcome setting, plus Richard Bandler and John Grinder on anchoring.

• From social anthropology, we’ve drawn on the body language work of Albert Mehrabian and Alan Pease, both of whom have informed our thinking on rapport building.

• From therapy, we’ve been hugely influenced by the late Milton Erickson, especially his skills and insights on empathetic matching and pacing.

• From the academic research field, we’ve drawn especially on Robert Cialdini’s work on how to make a lasting positive impact on others.

• From the field of hypnotism, we draw on the endeavors of Derren Brown and Paul McKenna, who make their work look like magic.

The techniques we’re sharing here are based on practical, real-world approaches that have been tested in tough fundraising situations. Our only claim to fame is that in every case since the cafe example we’ve learned from what worked and from what didn’t. Used well, the techniques can help you share complex ideas simply, connect quickly to nervous donors, and build deeper relationships with supporters.

Having said all that we’re still keen to keep learning. We’d love to hear what works for you and how our approach might be improved. If you have ideas or feedback, or want to contact us to inquire about training or coaching, log on to www.theinfluentialfundraiser.com or www.managementcentre.co.uk.

Enjoy the book. And more, enjoy the success it will bring to your important work.

September 2008 Bernard Ross and Clare Segal London

INTRODUCTION

Influence—it’s what donors want.

The world of fundraising is changing. More and more donors are being turned off by cliched direct-mail packages, their in-boxes are filled to bursting with bland e-newsletters, and they can’t bear to listen to another dull speech over a bad meal at a crowded fundraising gala.

Instead, donors want authentic, one-to-one, personal contact that inspires and motivates them to support a cause. They want fundraising messages targeted to them that match the way they think and feel. They want emotionally intelligent fundraisers who understand the way they make decisions.