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A Development Director Needs More Than "A Smile And A Shoeshine," But It's A Good Start  This
is the era of high-tech delivery of information in an instant. The
Internet is accessible from any telephone line, and lap-top computers
let us take the facts and figures -- all the facts and figures -- to
wherever they're needed. Development professionals must master this
technology which lets us massage estate planning scenarios, target
solicitation mailings, and develop campaign giving plans. But, we must
also remember that, no matter how high-tech the tools, funds are raised
person-to-person.In
Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman," Willy Loman's rejection
of new technology, when he encounters a voice recorder for the first
time, is part of his slow and agonizing deterioration. The only thing he
knows -- selling -- is slipping from his grasp, and he tries to tighten
his grip on it by clinging to the past. The times are changing and Willy
isn't. But that doesn't mean that the experience of a lifetime of
selling is no longer valid when he declares, "The man who makes an
appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest,
is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want." Willy
is talking about being a salesman and having the proper temperament for
the job, but he might just as well have been talking about Development
Directors.Those
of us who carry the responsibility of seeing to it that money is raised
for non-profit organizations would do well to bear in mind Willy Loman"s
failure to change with the times. But we should also remember what he
says about the process of selling. You won't be good at selling widgets,
or orchestras, or social services unless you have the temperament and
the attitude for the job. While
not all non-profit organizations have professional fund-raising officers
on staff, any organization that counts on contributed income to provide
a substantial portion of its budget should have a professional
development director. In small organizations, the development director
could conceivably be a volunteer. However, the important thing is that
within even the smallest of non-profits, someone is given as his or her
primary organization responsibility the coordination and implementation
of contributed income programs. A development director's principal
charge is to create numerous, efficient, and compelling opportunities
for donors to support an organization and to make the experience of
giving satisfying and rewarding. It
is not a good idea for an organization's executive director to also fill
the role of development director. If the organization has a valid
mission, the executive director has a full-time role to play in
coordinating and carrying out that mission. Fund-raising needs to be
someone's primary concern. To illustrate that point, look at the
following breakdown of the time spent by a generic development director
on various important activities:
Does
this look like a job that can be done well as an adjunct to another?
Even more telling is the mix of qualities that make for a successful
development director. Two
of the best development professionals I know are Joyce Braun and Ellen
Feuer. They worked with me for several years at the Cleveland Orchestra
and now run their own development departments at major institutions.
Over the years, many people came to us looking for work in development
and asking for job-hunting advice. After an interview we would often
discuss our visitor's temperament and interpersonal skills "qualities"
as a potential development professional. Eventually we made a game out
of appraising the development potential of people we came across in
situations where we could observe them in action. The best opportunities
to play this game turned out to be at meetings that either were held in
restaurants or were catered. Depending on the attitudes our often
harried and hurried servers would display and the responses they would
make to our demands and complaints, we would give a thumbs up or down as
to whether we would hire them for a junior position in the Orchestra's
development department.Would
you hire someone for development work like the server who replied when
told that a steak he or she served was cold, "But it can't be,"
or "I don't know what's wrong with the chef back there"?
Wouldn't you rather hire someone with the sensitivity to respond, "I'm
very sorry. Please let me take it back and bring you your steak the way
you want it"? Determining whether a person's temperament is suited
to development work is almost that simple. I hire and recommend
entry-level development people largely based on their temperament and
affability. How well they deal with criticism, are likely to handle
volunteers and donors who are disappointed or upset, and show gratitude,
are key indicators. Development
professionals must have a temperament suited to serving people's needs.
They have to be attentive, persistent, and flexible. They need to have a
thick skin, and be willing to hide their light under a bushel. In
fund-raising, the glory goes to the getters, not the facilitators. Part
of the development director's job is to make the volunteers look good,
even at his or her own expense. Development
professionals need to exhibit a demeanor that is a little self-effacing.
While the trustees, donors, and volunteers with whom we deal may regard
us as accomplished professionals, they nevertheless appreciate a touch
of deference when we are seeking their help and money. It's not that
they want us to be subservient, but there is an almost imperceptible
level just slightly below that of peer where they are most comfortable
placing us. Many, many times I have addressed benefactors younger than I
as Mr., Mrs., Ms., or Miss. Often I have had relationships of some
years' duration without it ever being suggested that I call them by
their first names. Knowing
your place as a development officer is a practice which I believe made
me more effective during my 20 years at the the Cleveland Orchestra. Let
me illustrate. Whenever I chanced upon important female contributors in
the lobby prior to concerts and during intermissions, I would extend my
hand and lock my arm to receive their handshake, avoiding the obligatory
kiss on the cheek they reserved for friends and social acquaintances. I
did not want major donors to see me as one of them on a social level.
What I wanted was to be one of them in the context of support for the
Orchestra we all loved. At all times, I worked to keep my relationships
with donors on a professional, not a social, level. As a result, my
donor acquaintances felt comfortable calling me with requests for
assistance and special treatment. Had they seen me as someone they
needed to treat as a social equal, it is unlikely I would have been
asked for help in that way. My willingness to provide deferential
assistance, in the name of The Cleveland Orchestra, indebted them to it
and disposed them toward making even larger gifts. A
development director must be capable of functioning in a support role
and deriving professional satisfaction from working in the background.
As development director of The Cleveland Orchestra, I was not its
artistic director, nor was I a musician. The work I did behind the
scenes made it possible for others to make the music and be in the
spotlight. I found that personally and professionally satisfying. No
matter the organization, development professionals make an indirect, not
a direct, contribution to its accomplishments. When they do their jobs
well, they function in the background without calling attention to
themselves. Just as public acclaim for fund-raising achievement is
reserved for the volunteers, the glory of an organization's
accomplishments belongs to those who have direct responsibility for
fulfilling its mission.The
skills of a good development director are much the same as those of a
good sales manager. It is the job of an organization's development
director to inspire his or her salespersons---the volunteer
solicitors---and arm them with all the tools they need to be successful.
At the same time development directors must be able to run a tight ship
and bring a sense of control, perspective, and order to the process of
raising money.Good
development directors are donor-driven, rather than institution-driven.
They function as the donors' voice within the organization, bringing
donor cares and concerns to staff and trustees. Yet they must remain
conscious and protective of the integrity and purpose of the
organization. They are in the best position to say no to a request which
asks too much of the organization and undermines its mission. The
number of cultural, health, religious, social service, and educational
organizations that must conduct fund-raising campaigns has increased
dramatically in the past decade. Well-trained and experienced
development officers are in high demand. A perusal of the Sunday want
ads in any big-city newspaper turns up a surprising number of positions
for experienced development directors, and national non-profit trade
journals such as the "Chronicle of Philanthropy" are packed
with such advertisements. Yet good development officers are hard to
find. One reason for this may be that there is no proven training ground
for development officers other than the process of apprenticeship in
such mid-level and junior positions as associate and assistant director;
director of annual, endowment, or capital giving; and development
associate (which is often largely an administrative-assistant job.)
However, except for colleges and universities, only a relative handful
of really large non-profit organizations budget for more than a single
professional development position, with the result that only a shallow
pool of development professionals have had the opportunity to grow
incrementally in experience and responsibility.It is unfortunate that
more organizations do not see the parallels between the role of
development director in the non-profit community and that of sales
manager in the business world. Corporate downsizing has put on the
streets many mature, capable persons experienced in sales and
customer-service management who could function well as development
personnel. Both sales managers and development directors need superior
organizational and communication skills, a service orientation, analytic
capabilities, and conceptual skills. What the former sales manager lacks
in knowledge of fund-raising-specific management can be learned from
seminars and publications.Instead,
organizations often turn to persons with public relations or promotion
experience within a non-profit setting and try to convert them into
development professionals. Almost invariably, this approach is a
mistake. PR persons are usually idea generators who are great at
creating a favorable climate for an organization. Where they fall down
is in the day-to-day care and feeding of a campaign: the slogging
process of building a network of volunteers, training them, and so on.
The temperament and expectations of PR professionals and development
professionals are different enough that it is almost impossible someone
could star in both disciplines.If
I were hiring a person to run a development operation and had to pick
someone with no previous professional fund-raising experience, I would
look for someone such as the head of a department within a retail
operation like a department store. This person would have managed a
sales staff, worked at making products available to customers, handled
customer concerns and complaints, conducted special sales programs, and
attended to the minutiae of day-to-day operations. Exactly what a
development director does!Those
are my views on the subject. What are yours? I welcome your comments and
suggestions: tony@raise-funds.com
Note: Additional resources are available on my website relating to staff development professionals. You may access them by using .pdf and/or .html methods as follows:
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