Try, Try, Try

I listen (a bit obsessively) to a podcast, “A History of Rock and Roll in 500 songs,” not because I like rock and roll—generally I do not—but because I like history and, often, the artists are not rock and rollers.  R&B, reggae, jazz, country and other genres show up regularly, as does a dollop of classical music.  And often there is an artist I love, like Jimmy Cliff.

There are so many great Jimmy Cliff songs, but the one I want to talk about here is “You Can Get It If You Really Want It.”  It is exactly Jimmy Cliff; how he (finally!) made it and how he truly influenced not just reggae but all of music.  As Jamar Jackman wrote on Cliff’s death, “His songs helped define eras, inspire movements, and comfort those who needed strength during the hardest moments of their lives.”

The lyrics of “You Can Get It if you really want, repeat the title three times and then say…:

But you must try, try and try

Try and try, you'll succeed at last

Think about that.   You have to try, try, try and try.  And then, perhaps, you will get where you want to go.

That was a long introduction to the topic.  But, then again, Jimmy Cliff is worth the trip.

For nonprofits, that effort—the try, try again—is the part of fund development they don’t seem to comprehend.  Over the years I’ve been in the sector (40!), I’ve heard more nonprofits say that they tried something to raise money, and it didn’t work.  Then they try something else, and guess what?  THAT didn’t work either.

The truth is, it takes time.  When I started my consulting practice, I decided that the best way for me to find clients was to do trainings.  Those in the field would see me as someone who knew what I was talking about and—eventually—hire me.  The eventually is then important word there.  It took time.  Colleagues who were also trying to start consulting practices would ask me where I got my clients.  And I would tell them.  Often I would introduce them to the organizations who were putting on the trainings.  And they would do a training.  ONE training.  And then tell me “that didn’t work.  I didn’t get one client out of it!”  and very few of those consultants remained consultants.  They almost all got full time staff jobs.

That’s not a bad outcome, of course, but the point is, it takes time.

I recommend to my clients who are trying to enhance or start a fundraising program that they chose one or two things that they will do.  Do understand that just because you choose, say, to do house parties as your singular effort, that doesn’t mean that you can only do one house party.  You can, of course, or you can do as many as you can find hosts and attendees to do.  That could be one a quarter, two a month, one a week—-whatever works for you.

Then you become expert at house parties.  Or mail appeals, or social media outreach.  Whatever you choose to do, you learn—over time—to do it well and, over time, it will become profitable.  But perhaps not at first.

First, of course, you must sit down with your staff, your board members, your development committee if you have one, and truly consider what fundraising activity fits your capacity and your culture.

Then consider what that looks like.  Is it something singular—a house party—or some sort of campaign that will involve several different techniques.  An appeal (or two appeals each year) often includes mail letters, email blasts, social media, peer 2 peer fundraising, etc.  Whatever you decide on, know what you will have to do.  And then, remember the follow up.  For a house party, it will be thanking everyone who came, with special thanks to those that donated.  But don’t forget the people who were invited who couldn’t or wouldn’t come.  Reach out to them also and tell them how good the party was—and how much better it would have been if they could have been there.  And then ask to meet up to tell them the information that was shared and see if it resonates.

Whatever you chose to do, give it a few years.  Yes, years.  It takes about three years to establish a program.  Nothing happens overnight.  And then, try, try, and try, try and try and then, at last, you will succeed.