13 Qualities of a successful fundraiser
Here at Charity Link, we talk a lot about the charity fundraiser job description and skills needed for fundraising. But despite our thorough in house recruitment process, our award winning fundraising training academy and our mentorship program, there’s something about a successful fundraiser that just can’t be taught. So exactly what makes a good fundraiser?
What skills do you need to be a fundraiser?
In the old days most fundraisers simply ‘fell’ into the job so skillset wasn’t much of a consideration. These days things have changed.
Not only does fundraising offer the moral reward, it can be financially appealing too with annual salaries of £50,000 per year for a well performing face to face fundraiser.
People are making a conscious choice to enter the profession. From students wanting to kick start their working life during studies, to the part time mums who want to fit work around childcare, right up to the semi-retired who want social contact and to supplement their pension, it’s easy to see the wider appeal professional fundraising has. We’re also seeing a much larger percentage of women taking up fundraising as a career than ever before.
Public attitude towards fundraising has also shifted, with a wider acceptance that charities need the support.
See our blog about what donors really think about fundraisers here
So it’s easy to see why much more attention is being paid to what it is that makes someone a good fundraiser.
Good interpersonal skills means the ability to communicate and interact with the people around you and could be thought of as the combination of communication and attitude.
And in a nutshell, it’s essential for a career in fundraising.
But is it enough?
We know that successful fundraising is about personality and attitude so let’s break it down and list Charity Links most sought after personality traits when we’re recruiting for new fundraisers.
But before we do that, there’s one absolutely massive point we want to make:
Like with anything, practice makes perfect.
Even those with the best personality can feel demoralised because, well, it’s can be a tough gig.
Fundraisers who are prepared to keep trying and re-evaluate their techniques are the ones that just keep getting better.
What personality traits do social fundraisers have?
So now we’ve made that clear, here’s our top 13:
Good communication skills
Energy
Self-motivated
Resilient
Perseverant
Hardworking
Compassion
Likability
Integrity / honesty
Emotionally intelligent
Optimistic
Socially confident
Passionate
Communication skills
Having good communication skills is the ability to communicate with others.
By that we mean talking clearly, listening intently, being aware of body language, tone of voice and facial expressions and watching for non-verbal cues.
The fundraiser job requires a good understanding of people generally. It’s knowing when and how to respond appropriately, being clear and accurate and making the exchange pleasant.
Fundraisers should focus on delivering information about their cause in a way that’s tailored to the listener. It should be engaging, interesting and informative. And that takes advanced communication skills.
Questions about the donors can steer the conversation whilst picking up information that can be used to tailor the pitch to the donor. Everybody wants to feel seen and heard so personalisation gives a much better chance of getting the potential donor to become an actual donor.
Fundraisers that take the time to build a positive two way relationship ultimately reap the rewards. If there is a good foundation, then the fundraiser has earned likability.
Energy
Another of the qualities of a successful fundraiser is having a healthy amount of physical and positive energy.
Fundraising jobs entail long hours and there’s lots of standing and lots of talking. Every interaction must be as fresh and enthusiastic as the last and this can be exhausting!
A fundraiser must capturing people’s attention with an open smile and body language, create conversation out of nothing and begin building a positive relationship from scratch.
Learn a great fundraising tip for grabbing (and keeping!) the attention of a passer by
Obviously next comes delivering a sound and informative pitch.
If fundraisers make it as far as ‘the ask’, in needs to be done in a way that’s comfortable and non-pressurised.
Every ‘no’ must be taken with grace and as much positivity as a ‘yes’, despite having a little less precious energy with each interaction.
Rinse and repeat that for several hours and it’s easy to see why a good fundraiser must have plenty of energy to spend - and more importantly, know how to spend it wisely!
Experienced fundraisers get wiser to who might be persuaded and who’s probably going to be a flat no. They know to preserve their energy wherever possible and save it for the real potential.
You might not compare fundraising to running a marathon, but fundraisers need to apply the same mental attitude and be in it for the long haul!
Self motivating
When team managers think about how to motivate a fundraiser, there’s a few different ways they can do that from pep talks to incentives. But although team managers are on hand to help and guide, the truth is that street fundraisers and door to door fundraisers will mostly work alone.
Because of that, being able to self-motivate is a non-negotiable.
Reasons for motivation can be financial, a drive to achieve sales targets and goals set. Many are motivated by the desire to make a difference to the charity.
Although motivation is more of a mental trait, it also relates to the amount of energy a fundraiser has. We find that those who can maintain their motivation tend to be good at distributing their energy.
In other words, they’re good at not burning out.
Read more about how NOT to burn out as a face to face fundraiser
It’s also common that people who self-motivate are more self-aware too.
They understand that they’re only human and that different days have different results.
Successful fundraisers know when to push through, but when to take breaks and recharge. They know that they cannot let negativity manifest!
Keeping track of energy levels and thought processes keeps motivation steady and to avoid becoming overwhelmed, negative and exhausted needs self care. Because self-care creates motivation!
The secret to finding the work/life balance of any job is to always make sure you’re taking good care of yourself. That means eating well, taking regular exercise, getting enough sleep and pursuing interests outside of work that keep you mentally well.
Learn how to spot and deal with emotional burnout as a face to face fundraiser
And another thing about those who are self-motivated? They’re usually pretty good at being able to motivate others too!
Resilience
If you were thinking about how to describe a fundraiser, resilience would definitely have to be up there.
Whilst motivation is about finding the ‘get up and go’, resilience is about getting back up again after a knock back.
The fundraiser job means that some days seem like continuous no after no. Successful fundraisers realise that a no isn’t personal and they’ve truly mastered the art of brushing off a rejection.
A lot of resilience is about attitude too.
You can either be a person that receives a no and lets it take a dent in your motivation or self-esteem or you can be the person that lets the no roll of their back and continues to persevere.
It requires real tenacity to keep going and stand firm in the belief you’ll get that yes.
Perseverance
To persevere means to keep going and to not give up.
This is definitely one of the skills gained from fundraising!
Perseverance is a bit like the combination of motivation and resilience.
It’s about wholly understanding that despite the no’s, there will be that yes if you just keep going.
But how do you manifest perseverance in fundraising?
Setting realistic goals and setting a pace that’s doable for the individual is a great start.
Celebrate the achievements - however small - being consistent and identifying tweaks in the pitch will all keep that fire burning.
Being positive with people in general results in positive feedback and this also helps cultivate perseverance. Even if a fundraiser doesn’t get the donation, they still get the feel good factor from doing the job. These feel-good exchanges validate the reason to keep going. They confirm that what you’re doing is worthwhile and being well received.
Hardworking
Like most things working hard counts, and with a fundraising career it will get you further towards where you want to be.
But hard work is one thing - working smart is another.
To ‘do’ hardworking well means to combine energy, motivation, resilience, perseverance and enthusiasm with great attitude.
It doesn’t mean you need to be constantly switched on.
Fundraising jobs can sometimes have anti-social hours as they work around the most popular footfall at the venues they’re working in, or when potential donors are most likely to be at home. That often means the opposite of the 9-5 role.
As a fundraiser becomes more experienced, they’ll start to see patterns of when people are most likely going to stop and talk, rather than chasing down times that just won’t work as well.
So essentially it means working really hard in efficient bursts.
For example, if they’re fundraising at a train station, then making approaching people who are coming home (and are more likely to have time to converse), rather than those rushing off to work is working smart.
Compassion
Who can really do any job well without caring about it?
When someone is compassionate, it’s a real motivator to do the job well because they genuinely want to help.
While resilience and perseverance can be learned as skills of a fundraiser, compassion is an inside job.
A lot of professional charity fundraisers tend to care a lot about the causes that they’re raising funds for which motivates them to want to do well at the job.
Being compassionate may seem like something you can’t change – people either care or they don’t right?
Actually, sometimes people don’t care about things simply because they don’t know about them.
Many of our fundraisers haven’t had experience of our charity partners before, but after training and learning more about the work they do, they become firm advocates for the cause.
Later, many fundraisers genuinely feel rewarded for having made a difference and list that as one of the best things about the job!
In the same breath, a fundraiser that’s learned to be compassionate about something may feel that with education, they can change the way the public see a cause.
Understanding the reasons people care enough to donate to charity can really help a fundraiser tap into new ways of communicating about their charity. These reasons include:
A sense of moral duty
It feels good (egoism)
Social dynamics – following others actions and gestures
Relating to the cause personally
Learn more about why people give to charity here
Likability
Likability can’t always be won, but you can give it a damn good try right?
Being fun and being able to get along with people goes a long way towards achieving the goal of donations.
To have the best chance of being likeable means to be friendly, smiling and positive.
It’s a proven face that just by smiling, your body releases chemicals that perpetuate more happiness!
This good first impression also reduces any chance for the public to see you (or your charity) in a negative light.
Integrity
Integrity and honesty are closely linked as they show strong moral principles. Ultimately, this is how to win trust.
Any successful fundraiser can show integrity and honesty simply by being consistent, open and transparent in the way they speak and what they say.
One specific way to show integrity is to know the fundraising regulator code and to follow it. This means to be respectful, consistent and non-pushy and the experienced fundraiser knows that this is the best way to create a foundation from which to build on.
Learn the basics of the Code of Fundraising Practice
Emotionally intelligent
Emotional intelligence means is to have an acute awareness of yourself and of others around you.
Beyond intuition, it’s the ability to ‘read the room’, show empathy and tap into the right time to say things well. It’s also the ability to be diplomatic, even if you completely disagree with another person.
Being emotionally intelligent was listed as one of 11 traits of a fundraiser from a three year study by the director of the Centre of Philanthropy at the University of Kent.
The study set out to find whether successful fundraisers share similar social skills and personality traits.
‘The Formation of Fundraisers; the Role of Personal Skills in Asking for Money’ by Dr Beth Breeze also identified that emotional intelligence was an essential part of being a successful fundraiser.
Learn about how the inner chimp affects our emotions and how it impacts on face to face fundraising
Optimism
Optimism could be defined as having positive attitude and being filled with hope.
In many ways optimism is more of a natural gift.
Some people just are more ‘bright side’ types who look for the positives and things to feel grateful for. Optimism helps fundraisers navigate through even the worst of days.
Being optimistic is also infectious! People can’t help but feel better when around those shining their light and they’re more likely to invest themselves in looking for the good.
“Once you choose hope, anything’s possible”
Fundraising is all about positivity, even when some of the subject matter is pretty difficult… To show optimism means to focus more about what can be done to make change.
Socially confident
Not every fundraiser has to be an extrovert but an outgoing personality definitely helps!
If you’re going to spend all day approaching complete strangers and ask for money, you have to have some degree of social confidence.
Fundraisers who are more extrovert almost always suit the role better than the introverts, although it’s not unheard of for this personality type to do okay too, provided they’re confident.
Passionate
In the ‘Formation of Fundraisers’ annual survey, ‘Best job in the World’ came up as the most frequent answer which we think clearly reflects the passion of those in the role of fundraiser!
Being passionate about a cause and excited about your mission really translates to the prospective donor.
Passion gives a natural high and that’s engaging. When a fundraiser can celebrating the wins and accomplishments of their charity, it really brings the feel good factor to raising money for charity.
Here, knowledge counts for a lot. The more comfortable and confident a fundraiser is about their knowledge of a charity, the more be able to talk with confidence and communicate that passion well.
This also cultivates trust from the potential donor who views the fundraiser as the ‘expert’ on the topic.
The good thing about passion is that it can be ignited with dedication and persistence. Often the more we learn about something, the more we engage.
And finally, it goes without saying that good organisational skills help a lot with this job too, which means managing time efficiently and knowing how to be productive.
Fundraisers should understand the numbers they’re working towards but not get hung up on chasing them. As a fundraising agency, we find that with the right mindset and attitude, the numbers take care of themselves.
Read fundraising is not something you do; it’s someone you ARE’
Want to learn more about how to be a successful fundraiser?
As the largest fundraising agency in the UK, Charity Link pride ourselves on delivering prosperous, happy fundraisers, raising much needed funds for the best loved charities in the country.