Our team recently came together to talk about the fear we are seeing across the sector, given the current political landscape. While there are so many unknowns, we wanted to share some gems and key takeaways from our conversation with you:
Take time to recognize the heaviness of this time
While supporting your cause is just as important as ever, we need to avoid leaning in and creating a culture of urgency. There’s a difference between being realistic – accepting what’s going on and preparing to deal with the outcome – and imagining catastrophe – living with a mindset of the worst possible outcome.
At Balanced Good we are recognizing the need for and resisting the pressure to find a solution. We know it’s important to take small steps towards the next right thing, but with so many unknowns it’s difficult to know what the next right thing is. And honestly, we don’t know what the solution is. But we know leaning into our values is always good practice.
Remember to hold fast to your values and prioritize your and your team’s mental health.
Have meaningful conversations with your donors, funders, and partners
We’ve heard fear expressed around what could happen with corporate funding. Hold conversations with a human-to-human mindset instead of as a ‘Charity’ to ‘Corporation’.
Try expressing to your supporter audience what you might be fearing. You can incorporate language like: “Now is the time to invest in alignment with your values …”
Remember, in difficult times, there are people who want to take action. Donating is a clear way of taking action. There could be people who have never been engaged before, now stepping up in response to political unknowns.
Prioritize Unrestricted Funding
Now is the time to lean into unrestricted funding. This requires honest, open, and transparent conversations with your donors and partners. Explain the benefit of unrestricted funding and the impact it has on your organization. Making it clear to your donors that when there are a lot of political unknowns having the ability to shift and pivot funding is critical.
Switching to unrestricted funding where there was previously consistent reporting on targeted impact can be tricky. Remember to hold conversations with a human-to-human mindset.
Lower the internal pressure
Be realistic about fundraising targets that can be met. Encourage leadership to understand and champion realistic expectations of fundraising targets and to communicate these expectations with the board of directors. What is your “need to raise”, “nice to raise”, “minimum raise”. An internal supportive culture goes a long way.
Ask the tough questions
Now might be the time to reflect internally and ask yourself and your organization hard questions. Take time to review your programs. What programs are moving your mission forward? Although we like to think so, we can’t do it all. Which programs have realistic funding?
Still feeling overwhelmed by navigating our current political climate? Reach out to us today, we are happy to chat.
