Eskin Fundraising Training’s Learning Community

Eskin Fundraising Training’s Learning Community celebrates decades of education and inspiration for fundraising executives across the Nation. Let’s hear from the founder, Jim Eskin.

From the very start of our fundraising training/consulting practice, Eskin Fundraising Training, LLC, we’ve embraced the power of a “learning community.” This recognizes that no single person has all the answers (I certainly don’t), but within the room — physical or virtual — almost any question can be answered. This is all about tapping the wisdom of the whole. Every professional and volunteer nonprofit leader has meaningful experience, wisdom and personal insights to enrich the learning environment for everyone else.

More than 250 workshops, webinars, webcasts, podcasts and board training sessions later, we are more convinced that this is the surest path to demystifying the art and science of fundraising and growing together. It’s been a great privilege to be joined in the journey by many of the nonprofit sector’s most respected authorities in the disciplines that support advancement success.

My wife Andrea and I have also been thrilled by the opportunity to meet and interact with thousands of nonprofit leaders from all across the country — doors widely opened via the webinar format and virtual technology. In short, it’s been an exciting ride, satisfying, and best of all — fun!

These sessions have been profoundly valuable in my growth as a fundraising trainer and indispensable in my writing of my second book, How To Score Your First or Next Million-Dollar Gift.

Eskin Fundraising Training’s Learning Community

We’ve learned much about the power of the nonprofit sector, personalities of the men and women who lead it, and about the need for a relentless commitment to continuous process improvement. Here are 10 highlights of lessons acquired during this six-year journey.

1. Nonprofit leaders have an insatiable appetite to learn and grow: They have not only given us the most valuable gift of all — their time — they’re eager to enthusiastically participate by sharing questions, comments and innovative ideas.
2. Too many people are confused that resource development is only about the ask: This explains much about why so many leaders are frightened of the process. Over and over again, we emphasize that men and women can contribute mightily to gift income results without ever having to ask for a gift themselves. They can help identify likely prospects from their personal, professional and civic networks, break the ice and introduce them to the mission of the nonprofit, and passionately express gratitude to donors. When the time is right, staff and board members comfortable with asking can step in to make the solicitation.
3. Too much emphasis is placed on wealth alone: To be sure, this needs to be a chief factor in identifying prospects, especially those for major gifts. But just because someone is wealthy doesn’t mean that they’re philanthropic, and certainly doesn’t mean they are inclined to support your cause. It is our experience that gifts are much more driven by the donor enjoying a genuine passion for the challenges being addressed by the nonprofit. A prospective donor passionate about the cause is going to stretch the size of their gifts much more than high-wealth individuals marginally concerned with the mission and only having to make a minor sacrifice to donate.
4. Small is beautiful: The vast majority of our nation’s 1.5 million nonprofits have annual budgets well under $1 million. But their contributions and impact are immeasurable, fueled by the awesome commitment of their leaders and volunteers who are so willing to go the extra mile and then some to fulfill their noble missions. It’s no surprise that our audiences for both in-person and virtual programs have been dominated by smaller to mid-size organizations.
5. Learning is best by doing: Confucius nailed it eons ago when he observed: “Tell me and I will forget, show me and I might remember, involve me and I will understand.” Our programs have emphasized experiential activities such as identifying prospects, practicing elevator pitches and role-playing solicitations. This is enriched by having groups critique these exercises, note what they like and identify opportunities for improvement.
6. The field is constantly changing: Before the pandemic we taught that solicitations, especially major gifts, had to be made face-to-face. Social distancing forced us to adapt and to discover the potential of virtual meetings such as video-conferencing. Thankfully, in-person meetings have returned to their rightful place. But video-conferencing isn’t going away. We are now seeing hybrid solicitations, in which local representatives meet with donor prospects while national representatives of the nonprofit who live far away can participate in the discussion and lend their prestige and influence.
7. Virtual programs are so much more efficient: Savings in travel, time away from the office, and cost are enormous. Traveling to exciting destinations might be fun, but virtual training can come very close to delivering comparable quantity and quality of information and knowledge. There is another distinct advantage: Entire teams can participate and learn together in programs instead of a lone representative being the only beneficiary.
8. New technology will continue to improve and enrich the virtual learning experience: One of the observations we hear frequently from those who first participated in our live workshops and then pivoted to the webinars is that they miss seeing who else is in the room and the opportunity to network afterward. Every day virtual technology is moving to fill these gaps by letting participants see each other on the screen and then providing breakout rooms before and after formal agendas for people to catch up and visit with one another in private settings.
9. Fundraising and communications are seamless: Donors aren’t going to support your cause until they know, like and trust you. Fortunately, there is an ever-increasing array of communications tools and channels to convey impact and stories. Podcasts, videos and social media are just a few of the effective methods of connecting and building relationships with prospective donors. Most are amazingly inexpensive, making them available even to smaller nonprofits operating on tight budgets. Successful fundraising depends heavily on harnessing the full potential of new and best communications practices.
10. Nonprofits unite us: At a time when our nation is growing alarmingly divided and polarized, contributing our time, talent and treasure brings out the better angels of our nature and reminds us that we share much more in common than what separates us. People join together to champion their favorite causes based on shared values, priorities and visions of a brighter future. Political and ideological differences tend to fade away. Touching, improving and saving more lives is a much stronger motivation.

The last six years have been an incredibly rich learning experience. The best part is that each day our learning community suggests new and better ways that we can come together to operate more efficiently, more collaboratively and derive more fulfillment from our engagement in the nonprofit world. We eagerly anticipate the next six years introducing us to more robust and heightened results and outcomes as professionals, board members, volunteers, donors and other friends evolve as champions of good works.

After a successful career leading advancement for three institutions of higher education, Jim Eskin’s consulting practice, Eskin Fundraising Training launched in 2018, builds on the success of his more than 250 fundraising workshops, webinars, webcasts and podcasts and provides the training, coaching and support services that nonprofits need to compete for and secure major gifts. He has authored more than 150 guest columns that have appeared in daily newspapers, business journals and blogs across the country, and publishes Stratagems, a monthly e-newsletter exploring timely issues and trends in philanthropy. Sign up here for a free subscription He is author of 10 Simple Fundraising Lessons, which can be purchased here . He has just released How To Score Your First or Next Million-Dollar Gift, 104 pages filled with strategies, best practices and homework assignments is available in both print and digital formats on the Eskin Fundraising Training website and Amazon.  Quantity discounts are available to non-profits who want to share books with teams of management, development staff, board and volunteers. The projected availability date is November 12, 2024. But for those who pre-order, we have a special offer: Just click here and reserve your copy we will also send you a complimentary copy of our first book 10 Simple Fundraising Lessons ($16.95 value) that provides a solid foundation to understand how to best how to apply the lessons highlighted in the new book. That’s two for the price of one.

Jim Eskin – Founder
Eskin Fundraising Training
10410 Pelican Oak Drive
San Antonio, TX 78254-6727
Cell: 210.415.3748
E-Mail: [email protected]

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