AMA: Rick Holland, Fundraising expert and Director of Confident Philanthropy
This post was written by Toby Tremlett, with input from Rick Holland.
Rick Holland, the Director of Confident Philanthropy, will be holding an AMA during Funding Strategy Week (formerly known as Funding Diversification Week). Leave your questions in the comments of this post, and Rick will answer them on Thursday the 7th of November.
Through his consultancy, Rick has been advising organisations on their fundraising efforts for the past fifteen years, and has led the fundraising efforts at a variety of nonprofits for many years before that.
In our conversations, Rick has said that although all organisations are different, there are many things that we can do to strengthen our relationships with our funders and supporters. Rick is open to questions that run the gamut about fundraising, whether about overall organisational strategy or day-to-day donor and gift management.
Rick has worked with VeganForTheAnimals, ALLFED, The Vagina Museum, GFI, Humanists UK, Otwarte Klatki (Open Cages), More United, and many other organisations inside and outside of EA circles.
I thought it would be particularly interesting to ask Rick questions during Funding Strategy Week, when the Forum will be discussing a wide range of funding-related questions.
Consider asking Rick about:
Trade-offs between relying on major funders versus appealing to small donors
How to discover what motivates funders
Common fundraising mistakes made by EA organisations
Tapping into the knowledge and expertise of your funders
How you might work with existing funders to find new funders
The most underrated Beatles song.
What do you see as the potential for non-EA funding opportunities for community building organisations like EA Netherlands? Currently, 95% of our funding comes from CEA, OP, and EA IF.
My sense is that non-EA funding might be viable for specific initiatives, like talent development programmes, but securing such funding for core EA community building activities ā like community events, office spaces, organiser support, and outreach ā seems much more challenging.
Hi @James and thanks. Itās a great point, and itās all about the funding diversification that we are all trying to crack!
I donāt think there are any right or wrong answers here, but I wonder if we (collectively) need to open up our EA circles. We want the non-EA funders, what about the other stuff?
So if we talk more broadly about the communities we are building, the spaces we are sharing, the outreach we are doing, with a lens thatās wider than just EA, then I think we will do better at getting those funders and donors on board. If we keep talking about EA, then we shouldnāt be surprised if our funders are.
Iāve heard rumours that there are smart, dedicated, impactful, non-EA people out there. Letās work together to find them!
Thanks!
Heya, Rick. To what extent would you say that the donor landscape of EA-associated individuals requires a different approach, from a fundraising perspective, to those outside EA? What tips might you have for an organization aiming to diversify outside the bubble?
And, frankly, the bullet-pointed questions in the lead-in are all of interest, especially (for me) common mistakes made by EA organizers, working with existing funders to find new ones, and the Beatles, of course. Whatever you have bandwidth for based on other questions. Many thanks!
Hi @Adam! Good to see you here.
There are lot of things I think we can do better, though Iād add a caveat that my responses here are not generalisations. There are orgs which make a point of doing everything they can to engage donors (EA and non-EA), and there are others which fail to make the easiest of changes.
So we talk about some of things Iāve experienced, Iād encourage other views and opinions, as well as examples from forum readers.
We may not know everything about our organisations, but having someone on the team who can talk to donors/āfunders is helpful. Emailing your URL, and reminding a prospective donor that you sent it, may not be sufficient.
Create ways to bring donors in. While your X post about your latest research may interest a number of X readers or followers, what else might you be able to do to build an audience, and donor pool? Perhaps a webinar presenting key results? A Q&A with other experts in your field? Piggyback off of your existing activities to find ways to engage noew people, and keep your current people updated.
Make it easy for people to support you. Be contactable. Include your email address and LinkedIn link in your email signature. Let me know what time zone youāre in. If you have a donation page or FAQ about your organisation, perhaps include a link or button so I can explore more.
As I mentioned, this is not an exhaustive list, and some of these are fairly minor points. But overall, I think the more we can a foster a broad mindset, the better weāll do at engaging with non-EA funder. Itās not that weāre hiding EA, itās that weāre more than EA.
EA+ anyone?
Hey Rick! What advice do you have for animal-focused groups trying to appeal to environmentally-focused funders? Any specific strategies to bridge the gap?
Hi @Tori
With limited funding for animals and a relative handful of funders doing a heck of a lot, this is one of the key questions a lot of us have been trying to answer.
The answer is easy ā and hard ā in equal measure, I think. We need to do more of what weāre already doing: talking about the environmental impact of animal agriculture. Getting into the meetings and conferences and spaces where these funders talk. Creating spaces for orgs and funders to address these issues together.
Itās not only about getting to the environmentally-focused funders, but how do we get new funders and donors into our space? I donāt have all of those answers, but Iām trying to find out!
Hey Rick! Thanks again for taking part. If you have any takes on the consider asking Rick about bullets (included below) that arenāt covered in other questions, Iād love to hear them.
Consider asking Rick about:
Trade-offs between relying on major funders versus appealing to small donors
How to discover what motivates funders
Common fundraising mistakes made by EA organisations
Tapping into the knowledge and expertise of your funders
How you might work with existing funders to find new funders
The most underrated Beatles song.
Hi Rick, itās great to connect with you! I have a few questions and would really appreciate hearing your perspective on them.
Given that I havenāt yet had much success in securing substantial support for my phage-related projects, what strategies would you recommend for balancing the trade-off between relying on major funders and building a network of smaller donors, especially in niche fields like phage therapy research?
Could you suggest effective ways to uncover what truly motivates funders, particularly those who might be interested in high-impact, emerging biomedical solutions? This insight would be invaluable in refining my approach for phage therapy projects.
Based on your experience with EA organizations, what are some common fundraising mistakes to avoid when pitching early-stage, high-risk research? Iām particularly keen to understand where others might have gone wrong, as I work to gain support for my own phage research.
How can I tap into the knowledge and expertise of existing funders to strengthen both my research and fundraising efforts? Additionally, are there effective ways to work with current funders to identify potential new funding sources within the global health sector?
Hi @emmannaemeka! Thanks for your questionsālet me start by saying that for a lot fundraising issues and approaches, there are may not be absolute right and wrong answers. What works for you in your org might not be right for another org, even ones of similar size or cause area.
You mention that you havenāt had much success in securing substantial support. Iād first want to get a sense of where youāve had success securing support, at any level. Itās possible that the approaches that are working for those supporters might work for larger donors too. Trade offs, if any, might depend on your resources and staffing. For a small team, it might be easier to manage a small number of relationships with big donors, instead of tens or hundreds of relationships with donors giving more modest amounts. There doesnāt need to be a trade offāmany organisations do both.
I love this question about donor/āfunder motivation. Sometimes we can be so focused on our work and our impact, that weāre not thinking about what our supporters might want to achieve. I donāt mean for this to sound flippant (because it certainly isnāt!), but I think the best thing we can do to find out this info is to ask them. Think about your supporters, volunteers, team (regardless of their giving our ability to give) and ask why they do it. Once the conversations get going, you may even uncover some ideas and quotes that can help other people to get involved.
There are probably a lot of things we could talk about here, but in general I always want to find ways to bring people in, to start a conversation. A wide-funnel approach is one example. If youāre talking about a niche, early-stage, high-risk initiative, Iām might think about why this isnāt for me before I consider why it might be perfect for me.
Here, Iād go back to point 2 above. Not every funder may respond positively to a āwould you introduce me to ā¦?ā question, but our donors/āfunders/āsupporters have an enormous amount of knowledge and expertise. So letās at least ask the questions.
Hello !
I have a bit of a specific question: Do you know any organisation that could act as a bridge between a US donor and a French non-profit? Iām part of a French organization in such a situation. No problem if you donāt have an answer.
The US donor is donating through a DAF and wants to give to a tax-deductible US 501(c)(3) nonprofitāthat would send the money to the French org.
The answers I got so far from asking around:
One option is asking the US nonprofits I know of to receive and transfer the money.
However, this requires on their side to make an Equivalency Determination that certifies the US and French organisations are close enough for the money transfer, which seems a costly and heavy process (this ED is $1500, not sure about this one).
An org with Expenditure responsibility could apparently do this as well, but I donāt know any.
I know a French charity which received money from large funders (ex. EA Funds), and they just had to sign a grant agreement without complicated paperworkāso maybe this is it.
Another option is getting a fiscal sponsorship. Iāve heard that Ambitious Impact redirects towards PPF (which takes a 6% cut on the donation), thereās also NPT (3-7% cut in our case).
Which of these options seems like the best? Iād be curious to hear about your opinion.
Hi @CBšø,
I donāt know enough to recommend any of those options over another, but Iād start with talking with the DAF or the donor. Itās possible that your situation isnāt the first time theyāve had to deal with a US-France gift, so Iād start there. Based on that response, we could narrow down the options to identify the ideal one for you.
Ok, it feels like the DAF and the donor didnāt have to deal with that in the past (and have limited time availability for technical elements).
Iām also asking French charities and getting some feedback since a few apparently dealt with that.
Hi everyone, and thanks for all the great questions! Fundraising is one of those things that we know we need to do, but we donāt necessarily want to do. A lot of times we donāt even want to talk about it!
Iād like to thank @Toby for organising the AMA, and I hope that I can be a help.
I volunteer for an org Sanctuary Hostel it aims to be a vegan hoste, animal rescue and community center, i wanted to do a donation matching where i provide $90k of total matching, the issue is the leadership team was terrible and they had faltered several other opportunities and it was decided that they all leave, we do have the 3 board members but at the moment its basically 2 people including me and i have no fundraising experience or connections
How best can we get people to take advantage of this donation matching offer i am providing?
Hey @AceM, thanks for your question. It sounds like youāre being generous and nudging the organisation in a direction where they can ideally raise even more money by leveraging your gift.
Based on what youāve described, however, Iād want to ensure that the organisation has the necessary infrastructure to handle a matched contribution. If those systems are in place, thatās great...I just donāt know.
If those systems are not in place, perhaps your gift could help implement them, so that donors/āfunders (at all levels) know that their donations are safe, and put to use in impactful ways.
I sounds to be like they need your support, but might not be ready to administer or manage a matching gift programme.
Naive and broad question: what should EA and EA orgs do differently to interest non-EA donors?
(are there things you feel are frequently under-appreciated by EA actors?)
Hi @GV
I have mentioned a few of these in my comments after @Adamās post. Whatās been your experience?
Inside EA, we are great at making a case through research, data, and impact, and traditional non-EA fundraising is known for its emotion-driven asks and responses.
I believe there is a sweet spot somewhere in the middle, but we havenāt it yet.
Your comments here and there make sense to me. I feel like itās quite straightforward in theory, and harder to do in practice.
I do observe that some orgs are leagues above others in communicating, and I feel like the two important reasons for this are
- the orgās willingness to allocate resources to professional communication work
- the extent to which the orgās activity lends itself to communication (eg most orgs working with cute animals have an advantage here).