I love this. I also am more of a pragmatist. I remeber when I just started fundrasing working with a program manager on a bid and asking him "why is this important" as in why should a funder give us money for it. He was so insulted by the question. He couldn't answer it. He truly belived the work (Jewish litergical choirs reviving lost litergy ) spoke for itself and we just needed to tell people we were doing it. Being removed from projects i work on lets me ask the critical questions. It makes me a better fundraiser.
What a striking example. Being a fundraiser and speaking on behalf of funders can sometimes make these difficult conversations a bit easier because it's not your lack of knowledge of understanding which needs to be addresses, but a potential supporter's.
By saying 'Of course you and I know why this is important, but how would you describe the relevance to someone who knows nothing?' builds empathy and gets across the need to be able to explain why we do our work. And being a pragmatist probably means you take it less personally when someone feels insulted by you just trying to do your job.
I'm intrigued about the Jewish choirs - I didn't think Judaism had a choral tradition. Googling it now...Caroline
I love this. I also am more of a pragmatist. I remeber when I just started fundrasing working with a program manager on a bid and asking him "why is this important" as in why should a funder give us money for it. He was so insulted by the question. He couldn't answer it. He truly belived the work (Jewish litergical choirs reviving lost litergy ) spoke for itself and we just needed to tell people we were doing it. Being removed from projects i work on lets me ask the critical questions. It makes me a better fundraiser.
What a striking example. Being a fundraiser and speaking on behalf of funders can sometimes make these difficult conversations a bit easier because it's not your lack of knowledge of understanding which needs to be addresses, but a potential supporter's.
By saying 'Of course you and I know why this is important, but how would you describe the relevance to someone who knows nothing?' builds empathy and gets across the need to be able to explain why we do our work. And being a pragmatist probably means you take it less personally when someone feels insulted by you just trying to do your job.
I'm intrigued about the Jewish choirs - I didn't think Judaism had a choral tradition. Googling it now...Caroline