The 5 Keys to Retention
...but not the kind of retention you're thinking.
This likely isn’t going to be the kind of retention commentary that you were expecting.
I’m focused on something more important than donor retention. This is about retention within your fundraising team. Keeping and honoring the people who represent you in the community is at a premium right now—and always should be.
In my opinion, losing a great fundraiser can hurt an organization more than losing a top donor.
I’ve had many conversations over the past year about the challenging labor market. Really good nonprofit pros, and fundraisers specifically, are hard to find. If you are one—or if you have one on your team—there will be no shortage of search firms and other organization making offers to a great fundraiser.
This weekend, my wife and I spent time with one of the best “retention strategists” I’ve ever met. But he probably never thought about the word retention, as it related to staff. Instead, he simply demonstrated five qualities that kept his staff feeling great joy, pride, and success.
The guy I’m talking about is Terry Jones, one of my mentors and friends. It was his 80th birthday celebration… and you won’t believe the different people who were there. People who started out as donors and became friends. People who started out as friends and became donors. And a whole bunch of us who worked for him over the years. That last group: I think we were the most enthusiastic to be there because we know how special it is to be both in TJ’s professional lineage—and invited into his friendship.
People who worked for Terry knew how good they had it and rarely were looking for other opportunities. Here are 5 things Terry demonstrated and taught me about supporting and inspiring the great fundraisers on your team (…boy, do I hope I do these even an ounce of justice!).
1. Care deeply about the life milestones.
Terry and his wife, Judy, came to our wedding. It was June in Phoenix. A cool 106 degrees on that day. I won’t go in to all the details, but there was a lot of dancing and a few beverages. In the memories of my wedding (the ones that aren’t about my bride, Rachel), having Terry and Judy there ranks at or very near the top of the list.
There are a whole bunch of things I could cite that happened before and after that. But they’re all really about the same idea: when you make the life happenings of your team important to you, they’ll remember. And it will matter.
My current team has been together a long time. And we’ve experienced all the extraordinary things of life together—great joy, deep grief, and everything in between. I think we’re still all together—in part—because of that. We feel connected to and responsible for one another. I learned how to do that well from Terry.
2. Make time to listen to the idea.
While I don’t really remember this, I’m told (by Terry, of course) that early in my career, I had about 6 ideas per day. And I shared every single one of them—fully and enthusiastically—with Terry.
What I’m also told is that most of them demonstrated a lack of experience and a bit of naiveté, mixed with a full-throttle mentality.
Funny enough, what I do remember—or at least feel—is that Terry was incredibly open to my ideas. He listened, he was thoughtful in his response, and he made me feel like I could come back and share more. Not that they were always adopted (for the good of our organization, most weren’t!)—but they were always heard, I was always coached, and I left feeling good about the interaction.
What I also remember is that we hit it out of the park with a couple of those ideas.
If Terry would have been anything else other than an encouraging listener, I wouldn’t have come back with ideas. We wouldn’t have found the few ideas that were incredibly successful. I probably would have felt discouraged. And maybe we wouldn’t have made quite the same impact together.
3. Let people be who they are.
There are only a few ways of being that “don’t work” in high-level fundraising. Just to name one, so you get the idea of how extreme a personality would need to be: a person who does all the talking and asks zero questions… probably won’t work.
Terry had a lot of different personalities on his teams. I’m one of them… and I met many others throughout the years. He seemed to be able to let each person have his/her own style because he made sure everyone was clear on vision and values. We all knew what needed to be done. How any individual person got there, as long as it adhered to our values and highest ethical standards… not as important.
When you keep people focused on the big stuff but honor and respect their ways of accomplishing those things, it helps people feel valued for who they are, not just what they can do.
4. Be a communicator, not simply a meeting scheduler.
We had one full-team meeting every week. It was mandatory. We all showed up and participated. It wasn’t “just Terry’s meeting.” It was for all of us. We all talked and shared.
As important, few things were a surprise, as Terry was in pretty regular communication with everyone. At least a couple times per day, he’d check in with people (if we hadn’t already run 3 or 4 ideas by him before lunch). Important and individual things were communicated 1-on-1 with directness.
I remember a time when Terry was on vacation. He called me at my desk (he never did that). I had moved forward on something that I shouldn’t have. …it was a very direct and quick phone call, which at the end, I remember him saying something to the effect of, “You know where I stand on this—so we can move past it. But don’t let this conversation stop you from pushing forward on the good work you’re doing.”
Terry was clear. I wasn’t judged as a person, but there was course-correction on my not-so-great decision. And he left the conversation with me feeling like he still believed in me. One-on-one. No meeting. Nothing left open to interpretation. Just good communication.
5. Find joy in everything.
Depending on which of our colleagues you ask… there may have been too much joy and too many laughs. But Terry was keenly aware that we worked hard, that it could be all-consuming if we let it, and that too much seriousness and gravity didn’t necessarily produce better results.
We met a lot of people for the first time at his 80th birthday. So many different stories about TJ. But the one thing they all said: fun, joy, friendship.
Wouldn’t we all have incredibly rich and beautiful lives if that’s what we were known for?
Now go back and read the five qualities without any of the commentary.
What I hope resonates is this: being a great nonprofit leader takes almost exactly the same qualities and focus areas as being a great fundraiser.
I’ll recommend something to you that might sound crazy… put your team on your donor list. Know more about them than you know about your donors. Show up for them in the same ways (if not more!) that you’d show up for your most supportive donors. Get them on a “stewardship plan” to thank and recognize them.
If you lead with the five qualities that Terry Jones demonstrated to me, you might have fantastic retention… donors and teammates. And you may gain some lifelong friends and supporters out of the people who work alongside you.
PS—The Accelerate Your Year-End Fundraising Cohort begins October 5th! Take a look at how you can create the systems and structures to raise more money, serve donors better, and create more joy, here! As always, if I can be helpful to you, just shoot me a note.