18 Museums Galleries Australia Magazine – Vol. 27(1) – Summer 2018
Forming a roadmap and strategies to secure non-government support
Approaches to fundraising Frank Howarth
L above:
Frank Howarth.
et’s start with what philanthropic fundraising is not. It’s not a process of begging, of asking for a few crumbs from the table. It is also not a process of saying: This is what we do; we think it’s important; so you should give us money. So what is fundraising? It’s a process of finding someone who shares your objectives so that together you can solve a problem. There are a number of sayings about fundraising. One of my favourites is ‘People give money to people they like for causes they care about’. On a different tack, one of my other favourites is ‘It’s amazing what you don’t get when you don’t ask’. The overriding guide to effective fundraising is to find those people who care about your cause, and to ask them for their help so you can jointly address that cause. This sounds deceptively simple, but the process of getting there is a mixture of art and science. In this article I want to talk a bit about that process, and how you can apply it to your particular cultural ‘cause’. I learned about fundraising on the job. When I took over as Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust I knew nothing about fundraising. If anything, I had the typical Australian attitude that asking for support was effectively begging, and anyway I didn’t know how or whom to ask. Through the process of establishing the first fundraising foundation at the Royal Botanic Gardens, and the second foundation at the Australian Museum, I learned a great deal. Since then, I’ve been applying my accumulated knowledge of fundraising to helping other organisations in the culture and environment sectors position themselves to make successful asks for support: from individual donors, philanthropic foundations, and corporate partners.
Another myth in fundraising is that people in cities are more generous, and it’s easier to raise money philanthropically in the big cities. In fact, Australian Tax Office figures indicate that on a per capita basis, people in regional Australia are more generous than those in the cities, likely through a greater awareness of their local community and particular needs. Regional Australians spend a greater proportion of their income on philanthropy than those in cities, so if you are located in a country town, fundraising is still a good option for you. First, some fundamentals. There is a change in motivation in the spectrum from individual donors through to corporate partners. I’ve summarised this in a diagram (below, left). I should note that it’s important to remember that while corporates are more motivated by achieving corporate objectives, the people you deal with from that corporate body are human beings with human motivations and passions. Bear in mind that saying I mentioned earlier — about people giving to people they like for causes they care about. There are three key elements in establishing an effective fundraising program. First, you need to have a clear strategic direction for fundraising. Second, you need to set out what your cause is, in a problem-to-solution form. Third, you need to have the people, systems and processes in place to operate a fundraising program. Good fundraising always needs a good strategic underpinning. Your fundraising strategy needs to be anchored in your corporate strategy, so that you only fundraise for things you actually want to do, and you can demonstrate to a potential donor or corporate partner that you have a clear view of your future and where each element of your fundraising fits into a larger picture. A savvy donor will only support an organisation that knows where it’s going, is well managed, and is viable. Once you have your organisation’s priorities established, it’s really useful to take a step back and look at how you would set out the purpose of your organisation in one overarching, problem-solution ‘cause’ statement. For some organisations this is easy. An environment organisation might say that ‘our overall priority is to reduce biodiversity loss through establishing more private conservation reserves’, or ‘by making our rivers cleaner’. For cultural organisations the task of mapping defined goals may seem harder, but it’s just as important. If you were to summarise the purpose of your art gallery, regional museum or historical society, how would you frame that in one or two sentences, and most importantly, in a problem-solution form? Mission and vision statements should give some guide to this task, but they are often phrased as solutions only. If your mission is to inspire people through contemporary art, what ‘problem’ does this address? It’s useful to start by distilling your mission down to a statement like: ‘Our purpose is to solve/address a problem/challenge/crisis/opportunity through
