Being a Funder-phobe

What is every CEO or Director's least favourite part of their job?

Fundraising.

Unless you are the charity-sector equivalent of a unicorn and actually enjoy writing bids, or are a Fundraiser by trade. I am neither of these things, and for the vast majority of people who I know in senior positions, neither are they. Trying to secure funds to ensure the ongoing existence and growth of your service can be one of the most stressful, testing, and isolating parts of the work.
And it's a complex task; different funders want very different things, each fund has it's own way of evaluating and reporting, the core costs like office space and senior salaries are notoriously hard to fundraise for, as is the continuation of existing work (shiny, new and innovative always has more appeal). Attempting to do all of this, without letting the anxiety of what's at stake trickle down to your staff team is a huge task.
There's also the way that this process effects our ability as organisations to share, be open, and collaborate. What if Organisation X is also looking at applying to the same fund as you? Do you risk telling them the outline of your bid to see if there might be an opportunity to work together and submit something jointly when they might just undercut you? What if there is no cross-over and, despite the best of intentions, you end up competing? A very wise woman, Yasmin Sidhwa (of Mandala), combats this by speaking about abundance - she chooses to work on the assumption that there is enough for everyone and tries to see how she might work differently or make different choices if that truly is the case.

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Now I've worked on numerous funding bids, worked with fundraisers and within teams to put bids together, and managed ongoing relationships with those funders when the money does eventually come through. What I'd never done before is be wholly and singly responsible for fundraising.

This. Is. Terrifying.

11pm at night

So when I found myself, 2 days before my honeymoon, having discovered a fund that was a good fit for a Discovery College pilot with a closing date while I'd be away, it was a very clear case of being thrown in at the deep end. On those 2 days I went to work and then came home, positioned myself on the sofa with laptop and glass of wine, and settled in to work until pretty late at night.

Fundraising is not something I enjoy, or a part of the work I find fulfilling, but it is absolutely vital to enable the service to develop, grow and exist. I was therefore delighted when the verdict came back from the funder that we'd been awarded a sum of money that would enable us to deliver a small pilot group in Witney early in the new year (hurrah!). This was hugely validating, both for the concept of the work and my fundraising abilities, and helped reassure me that this idea really does have value outside of my own head.
It's also prompted me to think about how I want to do fundraising in the future - every other aspect of the college is based upon principles of openness, transparency, authenticity and collaboration. Fundraising may be one of the hardest areas to incorporate these principles, but that doesn't mean that I have a free pass not to try. I'm therefore stating my intention: as far as possible to lean on Yasmin's mindset of abundance and to try to ensure I'm involving and encouraging others to have open dialogue about our efforts to secure the resources we need to do the fantastic work we do. Let's end some of the cloak-and-dagger practices around this vital strand of our roles.

... Oh, and to at some point hire a fundraiser!