AP Perspectives—The View From Via Del Mirlillo: Fundraiser of the Century (18th)

As I’ve said in previous blogs, I sometimes tend to read outside our field of fundraising. Why do I do this? It’s because I often find different ideas, new ways to do things, inspiration, and techniques, all of which can possibly enhance or even change my thinking and approaches to our field. Doing so also gives me new insights into people’s behavior and how they make important decisions that affect themselves and others.

Some of my previous blogs referred to what can best be described as military principles and thinking. That interest area came out of my interactions as a consultant to a major international organization which was focused on serving the military and was headed by a former Commandant of the Marine Corps. Much to my initial surprise, he was very reluctant to take any action until he felt comfortable that everything—information, planning, steps to be taken, etc.—was in place. When we were prepping for his call with a major gift prospect, he clearly stated this view to me and the development head and said, “I’ll only do this when I feel comfortable to go ahead.” After the meeting, the development head said senior military people were not good risk takers and had a real fear of failure—not my picture of the “gung-ho” charge against the enemy. 

So, what am I reading now? It’s “Benjamin Franklin: An American Life” by master biographer Walter Isaacson. Now you’ll probably ask what could someone born about 320 years ago possibly have to say about or do with fundraising? Wasn’t he just some kite-flying eccentric character involved with the founding fathers? Well, you could pull out little incidents like his kite-flying experiments with lightning, or even his being the first person to cook a turkey using electricity! But other scientists considered his discoveries in science, such the principle of electrical grounding, electricity as a single force, and concepts of insulators, conductors, capacitors, and batteries, to be of major importance. And of course there are lightning rods.

According to Isaacson, Franklin decided his real interest was in public affairs and believed the principles of science, including the experimental but pragmatic approach, could be applied to this field as well. Here is where Franklin’s broad interests begin to overlap with nonprofits and fundraising. 

Franklin created, raised money for, and subsequently opened, the first nonsectarian college in America in 1751 (after 1791 known as the University of Pennsylvania). After this, Franklin raised money for a hospital. He published a public appeal focused on the value of collective action, as opposed to individual efforts, to help the sick (sound familiar?). He initially had trouble raising the needed money from private sources, so he got the Pennsylvania Assembly to agree that if 2,000 pounds could be raised from private sources, they would match it with 2,000 pounds from public sources (also sound familiar?) Thus, possibly, the first public-private matching grant concept was born thanks to Franklin. 

What else did Franklin do? In the 1750’s he was active in an organization which established schools for Black children in Philadelphia. He saw himself as “a greater creator of useful projects”. These included public/civic efforts such as raising money from individuals for street cleaning and maintenance, obtaining public money for street lamps (naturally, his own design improved on the usual ones), improving the post office to include home delivery and a dead letter office, developing with friends in his “Junto” discussion group the first lending library, organizing a volunteer fire brigade, and putting together a night watchmen group. Everywhere his emphasis was on community engagement and collective action. And he apparently was a terrific fundraiser, too. By the way, The Library Company is still around, as are the descendants of the many civic organizations Franklin created. Oh, he created the first progressive taxation plans to levy a property tax based on the value of each home; the funds were used for hiring full-time watchmen.

Another lesson for all of us: Franklin was always trying to be a better person. In order to do so, he listed twelve virtues he would try his best to follow. Many of these can easily serve as guides for those of us in our profession. I’ll highlight a few of the most relevant and their short definitions, as quoted by Isaacson on pages 89 to 90:

• “Silence: Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation."
• "Order: Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time."
• "Resolution: Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve."
• "Industry: Lose no time; be always employed in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions."
• "Sincerity: Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly."
• "Justice: Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty."
• "Tranquility: Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.”

Some critics pointed out that these virtues did not include charity or benevolence, but others showed that Franklin lived and practiced charity and benevolence through his civic and fundraising work. Franklin always admitted these and his other virtues were principles to be strived for but often not achieved. Isaacson points out that Franklin acknowledged as much, that mastering these all at once was “…a task of more difficulty than I had imagined.”

But isn’t this true for all of us? We strive to be the best person and fundraiser we can. We have victories and defeats; some days we go home thinking we just may want to give up. But the next day we go back and again try to move forward. Elsewhere I’ve written about “black sheep”, the often totally unexpected events and occurrences that we cannot control but change everything: the death of a long-time donor who did not include your organization in his estate plans; the large event which had to be cancelled unexpectedly (COVID, anyone?); a key board member who, unhappy with a board decision, resigns; or an expected foundation grant that does not come through. How do you personally and professionally deal with these? Do you redouble your efforts, see other possibilities, come up with creative new ways to address a problem? Or do you change nothing? 

Our profession is truly about change; changing people’s minds, changing people’s lives, changing society. Much as Franklin was throughout his life, we are the change agents. Like him, we are the ones with our eyes and efforts on the bigger picture.