Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast for Startup, Small, and Growing Nonprofits

Matt Stockman (00:00)
Here's a question I want you to think about. When you talk about your nonprofit, who usually sounds like the hero? Is it your organization? You say things like, We started this program, we provide these services, we served 500 people last year, we're expanding, we're doing incredible work. All of those things may very well be true. But if you're trying to raise money, I want to suggest a pretty significant shift in the way that you tell that story because your nonprofit.

Is not supposed to be the hero. Your donor is. In the last episode, we worked on getting really clear about the problem your nonprofit exists to solve. And today we're going to take that next step and talk about the solution. And I'm going to show you why the solution is bigger than your program.

Matt Stockman (00:50)
Welcome to the Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast for startups, small and growing nonprofits. This podcast is here to help you build your nonprofit from the ground up on a financially strong foundation by providing the clear frameworks, the practical tools, and the real-world guidance that you can actually put into practice. I'm Matt Stockman. I'm a nonprofit growth coach. Thank you so much for being here. Really glad you're here at Nonprofit Launch Plan.

We believe that every successful nonprofit has got to be operating at peak performance across six key areas. And those areas are leadership, fundraising, marketing, programs and services, operations and finances. So on every episode of the podcast, we focus on one of these core areas to help you make lasting impact in your nonprofit.

Now, before we dive into today's episode, fundraising is probably one of the biggest challenges you're facing as an executive director of your nonprofit. How do we get the money we need to do the work that we're called to do? It

And it can feel really overwhelming when you're not sure where to start fundraising, what to say once you sit with somebody, or how to consistently invite people to financially support your mission. It's why I created the Fearless Fundraising Framework. It's a simple five-step approach that helps you clearly communicate the problem, solution, ask, urgency, and action, and gives you language that you can use in one-on-one conversations and emails, your website.

and the rest of your fundraising communication. So today we're working on the second piece of that framework, the solution, in this episode of the podcast. But if you're listening and thinking, I'd rather just have Matt help me build this instead of trying to find figure out all five pieces on my own, we can definitely do that. For a limited time, I'm offering a complimentary 90 minute coaching call where you and I will build your nonprofits fearless fundraising framework together.

We'll map out all five pieces around your actual organization. So you get to leave with greater clarity about your message

And more confidence about how to invite people into financially supporting your work. Because there are people who would gladly support what you're doing. But if the opportunity isn't presented clearly, if you're hesitant to confidently invite them into it, some of those gifts just won't happen. And ultimately, less funding means fewer people who get to experience the impact that your nonprofit exists to make. So instead, imagine.

Knowing exactly how to explain your work, knowing what to ask for, and having a steady stream of financial support that allows you to launch the programs that you've been dreaming about and build a nonprofit that can make the impact you want for years to come. So I'm going to teach you how to build one piece of that framework today, step two. But if you'd rather work through the whole thing with me one-on-one, go to nonprofitlaunchplan.com, click book a call. We'll spend 90 minutes together.

Building your fearless fundraising framework around your nonprofit. Again, that's nonprofitlaunchplan.com. Click book a call. Now, in the last episode, we started with the first piece of the fearless fundraising framework, the problem. I challenged you to finish the sentence. The problem we exist to solve is, and then make sure that the answer was specific and human and focused and easy to understand.

That work is important because before somebody can actually care about what your organization does, they need to understand why your organization needs to exist in the first place. So step one answers the question, what needs to change? Now, step two asks the next logical question, what would it look like if the problem actually changed?

And that is where we get into the solution. That's step two of the fundraising framework. But there's a little trap here that I see nonprofit leaders fall into all the time. When I ask, what's your solution? The immediate response is usually the program. Well, we provide mentoring or we operate a food pantry. We provide foster family support. We build wells in Africa. We run an after-school program.

We provide counseling. I think you're starting to get the idea those are important. You obviously need programs and services that actually address the problem, but those things are the mechanism. They're not really the ultimate solution. The solution is the impact that those programs create. It may sound like a small sort of change in thinking, but it can completely change the way that you fundraise. Let me use a really simple example.

Imagine your nonprofit works in a community where families have to walk several miles every day to get clean water. In step one, you might describe the problem by explaining that families are spending hours each day collecting water, and some of the water they have access to isn't even safe to drink. Now let's say your nonprofit raises money to drill wells. What's the solution actually? The first answer that probably comes to mind is well, we drill wells, but that's the activity.

What happens because the well exists. Now, a mom doesn't have to spend hours walking for water every morning. A kid can be in school instead of carrying water. A family has access to clean drinking water closer to home. People may experience fewer illnesses related to unsafe water. Those are the solutions. The well is what you do. The changed life is why it matters. And this is where.

Fundraising communication can often sort of get turned upside down. We spend a lot of time talking about what the organization does when the potential donor is really interested in what their generosity can make possible. Which brings us to the second part of the idea. Your donor needs to be able to see themselves in the solution. Let me say that one more time. Your donor needs to be able to see themselves in the solution. Think about the normal ways nonprofits can communicate.

We opened a new shelter or we provided twelve thousand meals in this last year. We helped three hundred children. We sent forty kids to camp.

Again, there's nothing wrong with celebrating those accomplishments. You should be proud of good work, but listen to who the subject of every sentence is. We did this, we did that. It was our organization that accomplished this. Our team made this happen. We've made ourselves the hero in that situation. Now let's make one small sort of foundational shift. When you give, a family can have clean water right outside their home.

Your generosity helps make sure somebody had a warm meal tonight. Your support gives a child a safe place to go after school. You can help a teenager spend the next year with a mentor who consistently shows up in his life. Do you hear the difference? We're talking about the same work, we're talking about the same organization, but now the donor can see clearly where they fed as the hero in the story of transformation.

Because most donors aren't sitting at home thinking, I really hope I can help a nonprofit organization achieve its institutional objectives this month. That's that's not how they think about anything. They care about kids,

They care about children and they care about families and they care about their community and they care about making an impact. Whether that impact is through clean water or homelessness or foster care, education, faith, animals, veterans, whatever cause intersects with something that matters deeply to them. And your nonprofit simply becomes the vehicle through which they can do something about that. They become the hero in creating impact.

Your organization might have the expertise that they don't have. You might have the staff on the ground, the trusted community relationships, the programs, the systems, the experience, the volunteers, and the infrastructure. you know what needs to take place for impact to be made, which your donor does not know, but they have something you need to. They have the resources that can help make all that work.

Possible. So fundraising then becomes a partnership and not a transaction. You understand the problem. You've developed a very powerful, effective way to address it. And now you are inviting another person to use what God has entrusted to them or the resources available to them to help create that impact. When you see fundraising that way, the donor isn't an ATM standing on the outside of your organization. They're instead

Part of the solution. They're an active partner participant in the solution. Let me give you another simple example. Suppose you run a homeless shelter and you need $500 to provide dinner for everybody staying at the shelter tonight. You could say we need $500 to cover our food service expenses for the evening, which is 100% accurate. But you could also say

Our organization provides nutritious meals every evening to people experiencing homelessness, and we need your support to continue operating this important program. It's a lot of words. It's accurate, but both versions make the organization the center of the communication. What if instead you said tonight there are 75 people in our community who are going to walk through the doors needing a safe place to sleep and a hot meal?

Your gift can help make sure dinner is waiting for them when they arrive. Now I can see the problem and I can see what I can do about it as the potential donor. That's the connection we're trying to make between problem and solution. Problem, here's something that needs to change. Solution, here's the change you can help make possible. Notice something else. I haven't even gotten to the ask yet. That's step three.

Right now, we're just simply helping a potential giver understand the story and how they fit into it. Here's the need, here's what could be different, and here's the role somebody like you can play in making that difference possible. In fact, say it this way: here's the role you can play in making that difference possible. By the time we eventually get to the ask, inviting them to make a gift, it shouldn't feel like we've

Abruptly like switched subjects and started asking for money. The ask should feel like the logical next step in a story the donor already very clearly understands. That's one reason that this framework can make fundraising feel so much less awkward. You're not walking into a conversation thinking, how do I get this person to give me money? You're thinking, how do I help this person understand the problem, see what could be different?

And recognize that they have an opportunity to be a part of changing it. Here's a practical way to look at your own communication this week. Pull up the homepage of your website, for example. Or maybe grab the last fundraising email or the direct mail letter that you sent, just something that's communicating. Then start circling the pronouns on the page. How often do you see we or our or us or the name of your organization? And how often do you see the word you?

I'm not suggesting there's some magical ratio where your fundraising works if the word you appears exactly nine times, but this is a really useful diagnostic tool and something I do all the time when I visit nonprofit websites or get their emails. If almost every paragraph is about us, our programs, our plans, our accomplishments, our budget, our expansion, and our needs, the donor is basically watching the organization be the hero.

See what happens when you begin rewriting some of those sentences around the impact that the donor can help create. Instead of saying, we provide backpacks and school supplies to 500 students every August, what if you said your generosity makes sure that a student walks into a school this August with a backpack and the supplies they need to start the school year confidently? Instead of saying our mentoring program pairs at risk.

Teenagers with trained adult mentors. What if you said it this way? You can help put a trusted adult into the life of a teenager who needs someone to consistently show up. Instead of saying, we're raising money to expand our food pantry, turn it around, make the donor the hero. Your support can help make sure more families in our community don't have to choose between buying groceries and paying another bill.

Think of yourself as the guide, leading the potential donor to the outcome of making an impact and feeling like the hero at the same time. You don't need to be the hero. You need to be really good at helping the hero, your donor, succeed. There's another mistake I want you to watch for here, and it's similar to something we talked about in the last episode. Don't overcomplicate the solution.

Just like we can sometimes bury the problem under 15 statistics, we can bury the solution under every detail of the program. You don't necessarily need to explain the intake process and the staff structure and the curriculum and the program schedule and the five-year strategic plan before I get the basic impact as a donor. Just let me understand what simply changes when I give. A child has someplace safe to go after school.

A young man has a mentor in his life. A family gets clean water outside their house. A woman escaping domestic violence has got someplace safe to go. A foster family gets the support they need to keep going. You just start there. You need to be able to state the solution to the problem in your community in one sentence. Last time on the first episode, I asked you to complete the one sentence. The problem we exist to solve is fill in the blank.

Now I want you to put a second sentence directly underneath that because of your support and finish that sentence with the impact, not the program, not the organizational structure or the activity, but the impact that your nonprofit is making in that moment. So maybe you have this: children in foster care are being placed far away from their families and communities because there aren't enough foster homes available locally. We worked on that in the last episode. Then

Follow up to that, because of your support, more kids can remain connected to the people, schools, and communities they already know while they move toward a safe and forever home. Now those two sentences are working together. Here's the problem, here's what could be different, and here's what your involvement can help make possible. All three things working together. Try doing that for your organization.

And once you've written it, start saying it out loud because I want these statements to eventually become super conversational and just roll off your tongue. You should be able to sit across from somebody at a coffee shop and explain the problem and solution without sounding like you're reading your mission statement from the annual report. So you need to get comfortable and relaxed with the problem and solution statements.

In fact, your problem and solution statements are the way that you should begin to answer questions from people at cocktail parties that ask, so what do you do? Which is a common question. Here's how it works: imagine you're at a party and you're meeting people and chatting with people and shaking hands, and somebody comes up to you and asks you.

so tell me, what kind of work are you in? Now, before you might naturally say, Well, that's a little complicated.

Or you might say, I'm the executive director of the local nonprofit, or I'm in leadership at XYZ foster care agency. All pretty kind of boring, plain answers, and don't really invite more conversation or questions. But what if you used your two sentences, problem and solution, instead to answer the question, what do you do? Imagine same question. So tell me what you do. And you answer

Problem statement. You know, in our county, there are way too many foster care kids that live a long way from their families because there are not enough foster homes available locally. I'm the executive director of XYZ Family Services. And when people partner with us, more kids in our county, they end up getting to stay connected to their families and schools and community that they already know while they're moving towards a safe and forever home.

That says very clearly what it is you do as a nonprofit organization, and it invites more conversation because people will hear that. They will understand what you do. They will want to ask more questions about, well, tell me more about that. Your staff, your volunteers, board members should be able to learn these two sentences too. Everybody needs to get comfortable being able to tell others.

What the problem that exists in the world is, and how others can lock arms with you to help solve it as a nonprofit. All right, the bigger takeaway that I want everybody connected to your nonprofit to understand is this: your organization does the work, but your donor helps make the impact possible. They're the hero. And when you begin communicating that way consistently,

I think you're going to notice that your fundraising starts sounding less like an organization asking people to fund its needs and more like an invitation for people to participate in something that matters. That's the second piece of the fearless fundraising framework. So step one, the problem. What needs to change? Step two, the solution. What can the donor make possible? And in the next episode, we'll get to the piece that makes a lot of nonprofit leaders nervous: the ask.

Because after you've clearly explained the problem and helped somebody see the solution they can help create, you have to actually invite them to do something. And we're going to talk about exactly how to do that. For now, though, work on these first two sentences. The problem we exist to solve is, and then fill in the blank one sentence only, not one paragraph, one sentence. And then second, because of your support, fill in the blank.

A second sentence. If you can clearly communicate those two ideas, you are already building a fundraising conversation that is much easier for a potential donor to understand and much easier for you to confidently deliver. Thanks for listening to the Nonprofit Launch Plan podcast. Remember, before you go, fundraising is no doubt one of the biggest challenges you're facing as you lead your nonprofit.

And I'd love to help you build a plan for it. I'm offering a complimentary 90-minute coaching call where you and I will build your nonprofits, fearless fundraising framework together. We'll work through the five pieces every fundraising conversation needs. Problem solution, that's today. Ask urgency and action. And when we're finished, you'll have a clear framework you can use in donor conversations, in emails, your website, and the rest of your fundraising communication because there are people.

Who would gladly get on board, support what you're doing? Sometimes they simply need to understand the opportunity and be confidently invited into it. So if you're ready to get clearer and more confident about raising the money your nonprofit needs, go to nonprofitlaunchplan.com and click book a call. We'll spend 90 minutes together and build your nonprofits fearless fundraising framework. That's nonprofitlaunchplan.com. Click book a call, and I'll see you there.

That's it for this episode of the Nonprofit Launch Plan Podcast for Startups, Small and Growing Nonprofits. Thank you so much for watching and listening. If you felt like this podcast has been helpful, would you consider sharing it with another nonprofit leader who might just be getting started and who might need the clarity? Until next time, thanks so much for watching and listening. Keep building your nonprofit wisely and keep making a difference.