Leading for Philanthropic Impact with Betsy Taylor

We recently sat down with our good friend Betsy Taylor, President of Accordant Philanthropy and author of Healthcare Philanthropy: Advance Charitable Giving to Your Organization’s Mission, for a conversation about leading for philanthropic impact. 

It was a fascinating discussion about how C-level executives influence philanthropy throughout organizations, and how we as fundraisers can best engage those executives to advance our critical missions. 

Here are just a few of Betsy’s key insights:

• Successful philanthropy is about much more than having a great development staff. It demands buy-in and active support from the Chief Executive, governing board, and key program leaders to be highly effective.
• If your chief executive doesn’t believe in what you do, good luck to you. It’s very hard to push that rock uphill.
• Any donor who is going to give you a significant gift wants to look the chief executive in the eyes. They want a relationship with you, the chief executive. They want to hear your vision, and know that you’re trustworthy.
• At the highest levels of giving, donors aren’t just investing in organizational mission. They’re also investing in the vision of the chief executive — donors need to know that person has the right vision, the right ambition, and the energy to lead and execute against it.
• If the chief executive is uncomfortable asking for money, that’s ok. For the most part (unless you’re a one-person organization), the CEO never has to utter the words, “will you consider a gift of $X today.” Instead, talk about what you believe in. What you care about. Talk about how you see your organization fulfilling your mission. You have other key leaders and team members who can bring home the actual ask.