#97 | How can fundraising professionals better manage the expectations of boards and bosses?

My conversation with Mike raised the important question of just how well fundraising professionals are managing the expectations of their boards and bosses. Regardless of the size and sophistication of the fundraising operation, it’s important that those to whom we are accountable and who have the responsibility of evaluating our performance have clear and realistic expectations of what it is that we can actually accomplish from year to year. While our mother-in-law’s perception of our work may never improve, and the general public’s understanding of fundraising can at times be problematic, it is nothing short of a disaster waiting to happen when our boards and bosses don’t quite grasp how fundraising really works.

I’m sure many of you, like myself, have seen how a lack of understanding easily translates into unreasonable expectations, unmet goals, and terminations that could have otherwise been avoided. To avoid such things, Mike uses a simple yet very helpful framework for ensuring that everyone recognizes the difference between those monies that they can expect to consistently raise every year versus the episodic and often very significant gifts that aren’t quite as predictable as they’d like.


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