Living Your Organizational Values through Fundraising
About This Episode
What would it be like for your organization to empower its employees, make them feel respected, and give them more opportunities to get involved? In this episode, we discuss what can be learned from looking at successful organizations, and how to grow your staff capacity to fundraise.
About Steve
Steve Lew is a senior project director at CompassPoint. He helps positional and emerging leaders increase their effectiveness in fundraising, governance, leadership, strategy, and multicultural group development. He was a part of the Fundraising Bright Spots research team of CompassPoint and Klein & Roth in 2016. Steve was CompassPoint’s development director and a senior manager for several years, and co led the Fundraising Academy for Communities of Color in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. Steve volunteers as a fundraiser for the Chinese Progressive Association and as a trainer for Class Action. He has previously served as a board leader for Project Inform, the Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training, and continues to serve as an advisory council member for the Horizons Foundation and the Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Key questions answered in this episode:
00:54 – Can you tell us about your “Bright Spots” report and what you’ve found makes for a successful fundraising organization?05:24 – What did you discover through this work (of looking at folks who are doing fundraising well and taking a comprehensive look at their data and their mindsets)?
11:25 – The things you’re suggesting will take time and energy to create (building a culture of fundraising, implementing systems, breaking down established culture of responsibilities), but they’re critical pieces for fundraising success, correct?
13:33 – I think this will help folks in organizations that need to make a shift (like improving fundraising culture on the board), and help them understand it’s not a quick and easy shift. Isn’t this a big challenge for organizations to tackle?
16:48 – Can you tell us more about the programs you run that help build fundraising capacity?
19:39 – I believe as you do that peer coaching is really powerful. What are some of the questions used, and how can people start it in their communities?
22:08 – It sounds like you often have people coaching across organizations, but is this something that can be successful within organizations?
23:46 – If you’re an Executive Director who’s hired your first fundraiser or someone who hasn’t done a lot of fundraising work before, what advice would you offer them?
26:45 – How can our listeners stay connected to you?
27:23 –Any last words of wisdom or advice for our listeners?