Gayle Roberts started raising money in her home state of Minnesota at age six, hosting a backyard carnival for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (remember those?). Now she's a certified fundraiser
and fundraising counselor in San Francisco with more than 20 years of
experience -- and she's got a lot more than pin-the-tail on the donkey
and water balloon toss to offer. Here she shares with Do-Gooder some
insights on what it takes to turn a novice fundraiser into a master.

What makes a person a master nonprofit fundraiser?

Fundraising
is a skill that can be learned. The inspired fundraiser understands
that in order to succeed she must be united in both head and heart. It
is a field that requires strong planning and analytical skills, as well
as intuitive and subjective abilities.

Resource development is
fundamentally the process of cultivating relationships between
individuals and institutions based on common values. Therefore, strong
interpersonal skills and an ethical nature are critical. The successful
fundraiser is a leader who has the ability to inspire and align others
to reach a common goal.

Though certainly not required, the
field often attracts college graduates with a liberal arts background.
Many mid-career professionals enter the field with experience in
marketing, sales and communications. Their managerial skills are put to
good use.

Successful fundraisers must be passionate about their
organization’s mission. In fact, they must be the first to make a
donation. They are comfortable with asking family or friends for
support, and do not take it personally when people say no. Ultimately,
they must believe in the essential goodness of all people or they will
quickly become jaded.

Finally, the inspired fundraiser has taken
the time to learn and practice the fundamentals of her craft, yet
remains flexible and creative enough to work with the resources at
hand. Setting and attaining very specific revenue and relationship
goals, even under less than ideal circumstances, is the mark of a
master fundraiser.

What can a person who is not comfortable asking others for money do to become a better fundraiser?

There are several things that I recommend:

• Understand
  there is an abundance of money available. According to Giving USA, in
  2006 a record-setting $295 billion was donated given to U.S. based
  nonprofit organizations. How much of this pool does your good cause
  need? Individuals, including bequest gifts, gave 84 percent of this
  total or $250 billion. In general, fundraising which focuses on
  cultivating relationships with individual donors is the most effective
  way to build a long-term, sustainable base of financial support.
  
  
• Understand
  that you already know everyone you need to start fundraising. While the
  practice and purposes of philanthropy vary across cultures, the act of
  giving is ubiquitous. While having access to wealthy prospects
  certainly doesn’t hurt, it is not required to successfully raise money.
  The simple truth is that low- and middle-income folks give a higher
  percentage of their income than high-income individuals or businesses.
  In fact, small, regular annual fund donors make the best planned giving
  prospects. While there are slight discrepancies between various
  reference sources, according to the Independent Sector, 89 percent of
  American households give to charity. Gifts average 3.2 percent of
  income, or $1,620 annually.
  
  
• If we are to successfully
  ask others to give, we must first give ourselves. Successful
  fundraising starts from the inside out. This requires first overcoming
  our own internal fears of money, power and privilege. One good exercise
  is to take is to take five minutes and write down all the earliest
  lessons you learned about money, such as, “Money doesn’t grow on trees,
  and we must save money for a raining day.” Share these with someone
  else. Discover how many messages you share in common and how most are
  very negative. Together rewrite these as the positive affirmations you
  wished you had learned instead. Post publicly and repeat them to aloud
  to yourself daily with enthusiasm.
  
  
• Finally, think about
  the last time you made a donation or spent time volunteering? How does
  it make you feel months or even years later to remember? Don’t you want
  everyone else to feel that same joy? You can. All you need do is ask
  them for a gift. Asking others for help is one of the best ways you can
  tell someone they are important to you. If you decide to not ask,
  you’ve taken away one of their most valuable rights: their right to
  choose. The truth is, people only rise to the level of expectations we
  place them. To succeed as a fundraiser you don’t need to change donors,
  only your belief in them. The inspired fundraiser provides donors an
  opportunity to put their values into action and to make their dreams
  for a better world come true.

What else do you think is absolutely critical for a aspiring fundraiser to know?

If
you can raise money, you’ll have a career where you can both put your
values into action and make a good living. Years from now you will look
back on all the children you helped graduate from college or the local
park that was once an toxic landfill, and know your life was well
lived. Here are my recommended steps for entering the field:

1. VOLUNTEER: What
good cause do you care about? Development offices are always looking
for volunteers to stuff envelopes and help at events. Join a nonprofit
board. Even without experience, if you are willing to support
fundraising efforts, you’ll be snapped up.

2. LEARN:
Research your city to find free or low-cost training. I’m a huge fan of
the writing of Kim Klein, Hank Rosso, and Kay Sprinkel Grace. Today’s
thought leaders are bloggers. If you have time to read only one, make
it the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Give and Take, which summarizes all
the rest. Start developing your expertise now.

3. NETWORK:
Find your local nonprofit trade associations. You’ll meet people who
will become professional colleagues, career mentors, good friends, and
future employers.

4. START: We all must begin at the
beginning. My first paid job was part-time telefunding. A horrible job
really, but learning how to ask for money 30 times a day is a good
skill to develop. There are always a variety development jobs available
and the pay scale is higher than in other nonprofit departments. If you
can learn to raise money, you will advance rapidly and never be without
work.