Why can’t more fundraising fix your fundraising?

Farra Trompeter: Welcome to the Smart Communications Podcast. This is Farra Trompeter, co-director and worker-owner at Big Duck. In today’s episode, we’re going to ask the question: Why can’t more fundraising fix your fundraising? If you’re not sure what we mean by that, buckle up, listen in. You will soon find out. So I’m delighted to be joined by someone who I’ve been very inspired and informed by on LinkedIn. I really appreciate his posts. He’s often saying things that are on my mind before I can even articulate them. Certainly worth a follow. But that is Kevin L. Brown. Kevin uses he/him pronouns and is CEO of the nonprofit consultancy Mighty Ally. Mighty Ally guides nonprofits to build fundable and findable brands that maximize funding. He writes daily on LinkedIn and Substack, and recently released a four-time bestselling book, Fundable & findable: The brand-new way to fix your nonprofit fundraising. Kevin, welcome to the show.

Kevin L. Brown: Thanks, Farra. Likewise, I’ve been a big fan of Big Duck for years, so it’s awesome to be here.

Farra Trompeter: There we go. Mutual fandom. Well, let’s get right into it. In setting up your book, you say, “Only one in 1,000 nonprofits will grow beyond a small business, but more fundraising itself can’t fix your fundraising.” And as we get into that today, I’m wondering if you can explain what you mean by the phrase, which again, we’re framing this whole conversation around: Why can’t more fundraising fix fundraising?

Kevin L. Brown: It’s not working. I mean, that’s the simple answer, right? I mean, we’ve spent decades as a sector, fundraising, fundraising, fundraising, right? I think any CEOs listening to this, or marketing leaders listening to this, or fundraisers listening to this, we’re so trained in prospect lists and grant applications and chasing donors. Yet, you know, most of us are unseen and unheard and underfunded. That’s why I say it’s not working, right? I think in the United States, 88% of all nonprofits struggle on less than $500,000 a year, and half of us have one month of cash reserves. The crass way of saying it is that definition of insanity, that old joke of like doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. So that’s why we say you can’t just do more fundraising to fix your fundraising. And the subtitle of the book is, “It’s a brand new way to fix your nonprofit fundraising.” We have to try something different. I’m not saying this will be the magic pill, but at least it’s a new way of trying to fix our fundraising problems.

Farra Trompeter: And of course, the emphasis on “brand”. So I’m obviously bought into this concept, and in fact, it reminds me a lot of what Big Duck’s founder, Sarah Durham, was getting at when she wrote Brandraising®, which is a book that also looks at how you can use your brand to raise money, increase visibility, and create change. One of the many things in common between the two books is the importance of starting with vision. In your book, you note that nonprofits need to “Sell donors on your vision, not just your cause.” Now, we talk a lot about vision and starting with vision for your brand and your work, and also for your campaigns, but I’m curious if you can talk more about how vision shows up as part of being fundable.

Kevin L. Brown: Totally. By the way, Brandraising® is just such a great title. It’s such great languaging. It’s inspiring. It’s a good example for nonprofits to think about how can you use language to create a category of your own.

Farra Trompeter: Yeah, well, shout out to our former creative director, Dan Gunderman, who I believe is the one who came up with that. And in fact, this is a silly story. When the book first came out, this is now over 10 years ago, I mentioned it to my wife, and she thought I said “brand raisins”, which I feel like we should have just pitched Kellogg and done like a spinoff. But anyway, back to you.

Kevin L. Brown: That’s amazing. Whether it’s brand raisins or Brandraising, vision is critical. In fact, out of the entire Fundable section, there are three main laws that I talk about. So the first law is that “A pitch without a problem is a problem,” and we believe that every good fundraising communication starts with some sort of situation you’re in. And then the second law that I talk about is how “Complicated missions complicate fundraising”. But the third law you just mentioned is how we also have to sell donors on our vision, not just our cause. And this goes back to just human psychology. I think any research shows that for people to follow you or for funders to fund, they have to understand where you’re going, not just what you do.

Kevin L. Brown: And what you do is critical, right? So the number one complaint we hear from donors is that “They just don’t understand what you do”. But after you tell them what you do, it’s more about where you’re going. And this stuff has been proven. You look at books like Built to Last, and these classic books that study companies that have big visions, and they outperform competitors by a factor of 12. And so I think that’s why visions are so important. But Farra, I don’t know about you all with your clients, but sometimes we see that visions can be maybe not as strong. You know, we talk about peace and rainbows, and everyone uses the cliche “Reaching your full potential”. And so I think that’s the challenge: How do we make our visions more than just some statement that lives on a poster and really a direction-setting device that inspires not only donors, but really guides the team.

Farra Trompeter: Yeah, we often think about vision as articulating your why, and a real core piece of motivating and setting an image of the future that people can see themselves, and wanting to work toward. And vision is often not something we can achieve in a year or maybe even 10, but something we can strive for. But of course, I do want to strive for rainbows, but I hear what you’re saying.

Kevin L. Brown: Totally. And on that note, too, yeah, visions can sometimes be so big picture and so far off and take the lifetimes and decades to accomplish. And so we talk about another tool called, like, the 10-year target, or you’ll hear it called the Big Hairy Audacious Goal, which is a little bit of a funny statement, but the point being visions can be big and so far off that sometimes you need to break it down into maybe something that’s a little bit more achievable, a little bit more metrics based. And so both of those tools (vision and 10-year target) can be really great for, again, not only fundraising, but also team and alignment.

Farra Trompeter: Yeah, that shows up a lot too. I know a lot of small businesses follow that, you may know about the entrepreneurial operating system, Gino Wickman, which brings in the Big Harry Audacious Goal and a 10-year targets. It’s all, you know, I think, as you mentioned, nonprofits and small businesses have a lot in common in how they can operate. And of course, beyond being fundable, organizations need to be findable, and that’s where the brand really comes into play. And there are a lot of concepts in your book I love, but I want to focus on two of them as you describe laws. So the first one, you recommend nonprofits “Compete for story instead of glory”. So, here in the US, and I know you do a lot of work both in the US and internationally, but in the US here, we’ve certainly seen some nonprofits embrace the idea of peers and partners over competitors. And I’m curious if that’s showing up in the nonprofits you work with internationally, and of course, say more about the story of it all.

Kevin L. Brown: Yeah, I think, yes, of course we’re seeing especially in a world with 10 million nonprofits, many of us doing similar work, I think we’re seeing either the nonprofit leaders deciding that they can’t do it all and knowing they have to partner, or we’re seeing a lot of funders even push for more collaboration. And that’s great. And at the same time, I think it’s okay to think about the concept of competition. I think that that term, some people listening to this pod might even bristle, “Oh, we don’t have competitors.” And I always joke, and it’s in good love. But I always joke, okay, “If they’re not a competitor, then why don’t you give them half of your budget each year? Why don’t you share your fundraising list?” Like, it’s okay to have an organization that you’re also trying to kind of go out and get something that they might be trying to get, which is typically funding or participants. And that’s why I don’t think competition’s an evil capitalist sin.

Kevin L. Brown: In fact, in the book, I borrow this concept from a social entrepreneur named Tori Utley, and she says there are actually three benefits to competition. So number one, it creates capacity, right? It’s just more nonprofits doing important work. Number two, it fosters innovation when we’re having to think about others, you know, it makes us be our best, right? And then it keeps us accountable, too. And when other options exist, it makes us really think about how we’re different or better. And so, yeah, I think that’s why, yes, partnerships can be great, and also it’s okay to say, “Here’s how we’re different” or “Here’s how we’re unique.” I don’t think that means that you have to disparage another nonprofit. I just think that means knowing who you are at the core and communicating it. And that’s a great thing.

Farra Trompeter: Yeah, I would say, you know, again, there’s so much to go around. I do believe in, where we can, shine spotlight on others and do things together, especially when we’re trying to provide services to under-resourced communities. And you know, at the heart of it, being really clear about what your piece is of the pie, what your role is in the ecosystem, is really important.

Kevin L. Brown: Yeah, exactly. When I say competition, it’s not in the chapters called, “You’re not competing for glory”. This is not about pride and ego, it’s about story. And so you’re just trying to figure out, how does our story fit best with this community or with this funder or this government partner? And that’s okay again, there’s plenty of money to go around in theory. Maybe don’t get me started on all the philanthropy that’s trapped in the DAFs and the foundation endowments. But yeah, there’s a key for every lock. There’s a donor for every nonprofit. The more and the bette we talk about how we’re different, that’s actually good for our communities, that’s good for our fundraising, it’s good for our impact.

Farra Trompeter: Maybe I have to Part Two it with you on DAFs, but we’ll side note on that. So at Big Duck, we often talk about brands needing to be clear, compelling, and consistent. And the other idea that I wanted to have you talk about, or one of the laws that you mentioned in the being Findable part of the book, is “Clear brands attract. Compelling brands convert” and I think this is where brand personality shows up, which is something we talk a lot about as part of brand strategy. And I’m curious for you, what makes a nonprofit brand compelling, and how can organizations know if they’re communicating beyond clarity?

Kevin L. Brown: It’s such a great question because what’s funny, Farra, in our work, and probably with you all, the first step is clarity. You know, you can’t be compelling until you figure out, “Okay, what do you do and who do you do it for? And where are you going in the future?” So the other side of the coin is once you get through that upfront strategy work, whether you call it your Theory of Change or mission, vision, values, all that stuff, once you get finished with that and you’re clear, yes, you do have to also think about how does it stand out? Because again, there are many of us in the nonprofit world doing similar things. So just being clear about what you do is not enough. And so, to your question, and you mentioned it, I think the first step is brand personality.

Kevin L. Brown: It’s a concept we don’t think a lot about in the nonprofit world. I think corporate brands do this really well. In fact, there’s a great book, speaking of other books, called The hero and the outlaw. It takes Carl Jung’s Archetype Framework from decades ago, and it brings it to brands. And so I think that the first step, is thinking about, “Okay, how is your personality different from everybody else out there that’s maybe either asking for money or support?” You know, there are these 12 archetypes you can choose from. And I think sadly, we see a lot of nonprofits that might have similar personalities. So, not only is the work similar, but maybe they sound similar, and that’s the power of brand personality. Like maybe you’re the rebel, and you’re shaking things up, and you’re saying things in a different way, or maybe you create your own kind of archetype and character that gives you your own brand personality.

Kevin L. Brown: So that’s one way that I would answer your question: pick a unique personality. And then it kind of comes down to tactics. It’s like your messaging and your visuals. I don’t know if you have better answers, Farra, but once you figure out a brand personality, you have a couple of ways to execute it, and you just have to be really consistent. Everything you say should be through that lens of that personality. And then everything you kind of design and build and show should be through the lens of that personality. I don’t how that resonates with your work.

Farra Trompeter: No, that’s a lot of how we talk about, and we always start by defining or being clear about that personality as well as the positioning, the big idea people should have about you. And use that to inform what, if any, changes or direction we want to evolve the visual brand and the messaging. And sometimes, for us, we have worked with archetypes. We often wind up working more with determining some characteristics for tone and style. So, usually a series of adjectives that maybe have other adjectives in parentheses that help illuminate what we mean by a word, like crafty, or relentless, or fierce. And you know, sometimes in certain communication channels or messaging, you might flex one trait over the other, but it is you. And that’s, I think, incredibly important and helpful to both distinguish you and also help people relate and connect with you.

Kevin L. Brown: Totally. And sometimes I love those words, crafty, fierce. That’s what we talk about with brand personality. We use it ourselves. Like at Mighty Ally, I remember when we did our last revision of our own website, we had a list of clients on the homepage, and it said, “Our clients”, and I remember we were scrolling through and we have a little bit of this kind of hero rebel side to our sage, and we kind of felt like, “Okay, the, the homepage is feeling too sagey and we feel too academic. We need to toughen it up a little bit.” And so instead of just our clients, we put “Our tenacious clients,” and we just used the word tenacious, and bam, right away that just gave it some teeth. And so that’s the type of little thing that we’re talking about. If for all those listening and wondering, what do you mean brand personality? It’s just showing up in a slightly unique way with your words and your choices around design. And sometimes it’s like a hundred small tweaks can make all the difference versus some big radical shift.

Farra Trompeter: Yeah. That’s great. Well, one of the things that I also really enjoy about your book is that you include action steps throughout every chapter, because I think it’s really important for people to understand how to take these concepts and apply them. So what are a few of your favorite or perhaps most often recommended action steps for nonprofits to take if they want to improve their fundraising?

Kevin L. Brown: Yeah, thanks for that. I’m glad you noticed! It is important for us. So part of our own nonprofit mission in this book was to make it actionable. We want tons of people to be able to use this stuff without us, right? We’re not trying to, you know, sell our services as much as just get this framework out there. So that’s why every single chapter and section has action steps. I think the number one action step that we love and that, it’s funny, it goes viral all the time on LinkedIn, is this “one-sentence theory of change”. I think for many of us listening, especially different audiences in different sectors, might not even use or know of a theory of change. But if you have one, it might be multi-page and complex and arrows and academia. But I argue that your theory of change really sits at the center of your brand, the center of your fundraising communications. So this one-sentence theory of change, it’s just the classic, you know, “Why, where, who, what, how, when” from school. And it basically just weaves together your entire model, your entire impact thesis into one sentence. And so I think that’s my favorite action step because again, that’s the language and that’s the type of messaging that you use in your website, your pitch deck, and other tools. You know, it starts there, it starts a few steps before you’re even thinking about your communications.

Farra Trompeter: And I love that theory of change, because it could also easily become or be inspiration for the elevator pitch and how we describe our organization. You know, people don’t have a lot of time; they can’t hold a lot of information in their brain, so how do you simply describe what you do in a way that people can relate to? So I think that theory of change opens up a great exercise for organizations, too.

Kevin L. Brown: Totally. And yeah, the other thing we love to do is we say, “All right, everyone, take this sentence, pass it around to 10 or 15 members of your team, and see what they say.” And what sadly sometimes happens is they get, “We see 10 or 15 different answers.” If you ask people, “Why do you exist? Where do you work? Who do you work with? How do you do it in order to win? Where are you going in the future?” Sadly, you get a lot of different answers. And so if among your team you have that many different answers, not only imagine the dysfunction that creates in your work, but imagine the dysfunction that creates in your fundraising messaging.

Kevin L. Brown: So yeah, it’s a fun exercise. Test yourself, take a one sentence theory of change, have a bunch of people fill it out. And not only might you see that you have a lot of answers. You might be actually seeing some unique ways of talking about your work that you had not considered as a leader. So that’s the other value of doing this type of brand work as a team, is you get perspectives that maybe you missed. Maybe you’ve been at it for 10 years, maybe it’s you and a co-founder, but then you have a new programs person or comms lead and they kind of add a little nuance or a little wrinkle to how you talk about your work.

Farra Trompeter: That’s great. And then of course, since once you have something like an elevator pitch, you go back, train the team, now everybody hopefully has the new, same sentence. So you’re putting a more consistent version of you out there. Well, if you would like to get Kevin’s insights on a regular basis, I encourage you to follow him on LinkedIn or on Substack or both. You can also dive into his book at FundableFindable.org. Kevin, before we wrap up, anything else you’d like to share with our listeners? Anything new that’s on your mind that we haven’t talked about?

Kevin L. Brown: Yeah, I think it’s just a call to action. It’s, if you’re listening and if you feel like you’re stuck, if you feel like you’re in the nonprofit starvation cycle they call it, or maybe the hamster wheel or the rat race, if you feel like you’re stuck, then stop. You know, gather your leadership team and get in the room and don’t leave until you figure out how to be fundable and findable. And I would say it, I promise it’s not that complicated. I think that’s my final message. You can do it. Of course, there are campaigns and branding elements and things like Big Duck does that are incredible, and you need an external team, but a lot of this stuff is soul searching. It is identity. And you can answer a lot of these questions internally, and if you do, you know, I think you’ll not only see that internal clarity and confidence, but you know, you’ll see that louder and sharper voice externally. And hopefully we can get more nonprofits unstuck.

Kevin L. Brown: I think that my challenge is that too many of us are stuck and we have to think about it in a different way. We have to put down maybe some of the things that we’re chasing after, and maybe stop and just think about a different path. And I know many of us feel it. Time is ticking. Our communities need more of us. The injustice is only rising, and it’s time to try a brand new way. And so I hope this conversation and the book and the resources help.

Farra Trompeter: They’re great. Well, thank you. If you’re out there, be sure to check all of this out, and hopefully you’ll get unstuck if you are stuck soon. Alright, everyone, have a good one.