Small Nonprofit: Fundraising Tips, Leadership Strategies, and Community-Centric Solutions
Jun 2, 2026 · 22 min · 11 segments
Send us Fan Mail Hiring a fundraiser feels like the obvious solution when revenue is tight and the need is growing, but doing it before you're ready…
Caitlin McBrideGuestNo entities detected.
A lot of organizations are kinda struggling to meet that revenue and close those gaps, 'cause a lot of them are facing increased need, and they see it as a fundraising problem.
So they're like, "How do we help ourselves? How do we make this difference in our organization so we don't have to be in this position a year from now," right? But you and I have seen in our work many organizations will turn to hiring a fundraiser before they're potentially ready to do so.
And it might feel a bit counterintuitive, like if you need help with fundraising, hire a fundraiser.
But there are things that you need to have in place first to actually make it possible for a fundraiser to do their job.
So I think there's a lot of like expectation setting that needs to be done, systems work that needs to be done, and understanding what fundraising is and who's involved in it, too.
I never have to think about fundraising again," which is completely untrue, and that can create some tension as well when you're hiring a fundraiser, thinking like, "Wait, what do you mean I still have to be involved in grant writing and donor calls?" Like, you do.
A while ago, you and I did an episode on the red flags that fundraisers should look for when they're interviewing with an organization, and one of those is can you bring your network, right? That, to me, is a really big red flag as a fundraiser because it shows that you don't understand fundraising, that you're expecting me to tap into my personal network because you don't have a network.
So now, today we're gonna be talking about the inverse, so from the organizational side.
What does that show? It shows that maybe you don't have a CRM, that you don't have adequate infrastructure, that you're not reaching out and stewarding donors already.
And it sounds like to the fundraiser the expectations are gonna be high and the support and the infrastructure is gonna be low.
So I like to kinda tie that episode together for our fundraising audience to go listen to that one, but also for the organizations and the leaders there to see the things that they are doing that are actually pushing fundraisers away actively.
Yeah, and it's a difficult market out there, too, so I think you really do need to be careful to not wave those red flags.
Like, the number of times I have heard the phrase, "We just need a well-connected person who opens doors." Like, okay, we will just be revoking that application then.
A lot of organizations are kinda struggling to meet that revenue and close those gaps, 'cause a lot of them are facing increased need, and they see it as a fundraising problem.
So they're like, "How do we help ourselves? How do we make this difference in our organization so we don't have to be in this position a year from now," right? But you and I have seen in our work many organizations will turn to hiring a fundraiser before they're potentially ready to do so.
And it might feel a bit counterintuitive, like if you need help with fundraising, hire a fundraiser.
But there are things that you need to have in place first to actually make it possible for a fundraiser to do their job.
So I think there's a lot of like expectation setting that needs to be done, systems work that needs to be done, and understanding what fundraising is and who's involved in it, too.
I never have to think about fundraising again," which is completely untrue, and that can create some tension as well when you're hiring a fundraiser, thinking like, "Wait, what do you mean I still have to be involved in grant writing and donor calls?" Like, you do.
A while ago, you and I did an episode on the red flags that fundraisers should look for when they're interviewing with an organization, and one of those is can you bring your network, right? That, to me, is a really big red flag as a fundraiser because it shows that you don't understand fundraising, that you're expecting me to tap into my personal network because you don't have a network.
So now, today we're gonna be talking about the inverse, so from the organizational side.
What does that show? It shows that maybe you don't have a CRM, that you don't have adequate infrastructure, that you're not reaching out and stewarding donors already.
And it sounds like to the fundraiser the expectations are gonna be high and the support and the infrastructure is gonna be low.
So I like to kinda tie that episode together for our fundraising audience to go listen to that one, but also for the organizations and the leaders there to see the things that they are doing that are actually pushing fundraisers away actively.
Yeah, and it's a difficult market out there, too, so I think you really do need to be careful to not wave those red flags.
Like, the number of times I have heard the phrase, "We just need a well-connected person who opens doors." Like, okay, we will just be revoking that application then.
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