Did the pandemic permanently change some of our fundraising pratices?

My conversation today is the final of four that we have had with our spring contributors to the most recent publication of Carefully & Critically; Responsive’s professional journal aimed at elevating voices from the mainstream as well as those at the fringe of the fundraising community. In John’s article, he is asking if the pandemic has been good for advancement and like our conversation earlier this week with Dominique, whether the pandemic was the beginning of a season in which we explore new ways of doing meaningful work. As I have said repeatedly both on and off-air, the pandemic offered fundraising a qualitative turn.

John tells us that after the pandemic became our reality in March of 2020 he was slow to enact too many changes and that perhaps like most of us, he was unsure whether this was going to last weeks, months, or years. After a few weeks of just taking it in, John was convinced that getting back to normal wasn't going to happen. John insists that in many ways how we conduct the business of fundraising has been changed forever. John believes the pandemic has given all of us opportunity to pause, rethink and refocus how we go about our work. And when asked whether that is necessarily a bad thing? John insists, absolutely not.

As always, we are especially grateful to our friends at CueBack for sponsoring The Fundraising Talent Podcast. And if you’d like to download Responsive’s latest edition of Carefully & Critically, just click here.