Fund Development at Skills Society

THE PEACOCK AND THE TURKEY

This piece was written by Darcy McDonald of the Skills Society board fund development committee

Each month I attend a meeting of the Skills Society Board and each month I am blown away by the way the Skills Society community comes together to travel an unpredictable path through uncharted terrain.

Most days the path forward requires the many microchoices each Skills Society team member makes to ensure people we support feel they are living meaningful lives in the community.

At other times, designing communities in which people with developmental disabilities feel they belong can require bold action, sustained effort into a longer-term view of the future. The development and implementation of Skills Society’s My Compass tool is a demonstration of this very idea.

Over the past year, Skills Society has been assessing the way it raises funds. It’s a path many not-for-profit organizations are treading to provide some shelter from uncertainty. Uncertainty in the economy. Uncertainty in government. Uncertainty in funding.

Although Skills Society is incredibly fortunate to have a community willing to donate time, talent and other resources, it’s clear improvements can be made. A shift from a fundraising mindset to a fund development mindset is the first step.

So how is fundraising different from fund development?

Fundraising happens when members of a not-for-profit organization make the choice to raise money for a specific purpose. Parents selling coupon books, or beef jerky, or air fresheners, or recipe books so their children have access to the supplies they need is a fundraising activity. Another is writing a grant application for a program addressing a specific need in their community. Yet another is raising money to fix the building boiler by asking volunteers to work a casino. Each is a separate effort designed to raise money to address a specific need over the short term.

Fund development, by contrast, is a way to get the broader community to engage with the organization’s mission over the longer-term by forging deeper relationships with potential donors while harmonizing multiple fundraising elements. Fund development is the process of uncovering shared values. It is about cultivating meaningful relationships and then providing opportunities for people to invest in areas that are important to them. Making a plan to integrate grant applications, fund-raising sales (coupon books), public events, online donation pages, and any other efforts in ways that are meaningful to potential investors is one example of fund development.

“When you see a fork in the road. Take it”

Yogi Berra