I had a full circle moment in my business last week.
I was on the second of two talks I delivered in the past few weeks in partnership with one of the largest New York-based grantmakers in the arts. Now, the reason the partnership started was because I’d applied for an in-house job last fall. They were looking for an in-house fundraising expert to advise their grantees, and I was looking for a “real job” to take the edge off after several months of slow business.
I wasn’t 100% sure I wanted the job, but I knew that sending my resume meant the right people would see it and, if they had a vision, they’d see different possibilities of how we could work together. After getting through a second round team interview, they passed me over for the job. But rather than leaving it there, the hiring manager asked to set up a call to discuss me supporting them in creating a fundraising course for their grantees.
My mind was blown because I’d asked, during the group interview, whether they had one, and they’d said no. (I, of course, already have a course!) But it planted seeds. Long story short, they didn’t quite have the budget to support a full build out of a course, or even subsidizing their grantees’ participation in mine. But we were able to strike a deal on a series of talks along with a promotional partnership (2 e-blasts and a dozen social posts) in which they invite their community to take my course with a special discount code.
Cut to me last week, when I was on an hour-long Q&A fielding questions from their grantees and organizational staff. It’s one of many skill-sharing sessions that they started creating to serve as professional development for their staff as well as deeper dive training for their constituents. I honestly had no idea who would be on the call, and was rather surprised to find the new COO of the organization was in attendance. 🤯
Luckily, I wasn’t nervous at all because I had spent the day in my own world. I had been working on a feature film proposal, and only threw on a blouse and some lipstick 15 minutes before the call started. I was too much in flow mode to feel anxious, so I let the (really tough) questions roll and answered them all handily. Well, by the end of the call, the COO typed in the chatbox, WE NEED TO BRING YOU BACK FOR ANOTHER WEBINAR! And the next day, I got an email to plan another set of talks 6 months from now. (See me getting another booking months in advance! I’m shooting for being booked and busy a year out.) 😎
My day was made, but really the past almost 5 years of my business was made. When I became a fundraising consultant, I simply wanted to share my storytelling, marketing, and fundraising experiences. I wanted to help artists, like me, who need culturally-responsive fundraising strategies to level up in a world where their work is underrepresented and desperately underfunded.
My first inclination at the time was to partner with arts organizations I had already built relationships with—as a writer, dancer, NYU film grad, and self-producing filmmaker who’d lived, up to that point, 14 years in NYC. And I did just that, putting together my “little promo pack that could,” a Google doc that I would send out to these organizations in hopes they wanted to do a partner talk or webinar with me. (Pictured above: one of my first partner talks, a televised presentation for BRIC Arts Media’s Brooklyn Free Speech TV) I would propose a revenue share of course sales, a discount code for their community, and whatever extras we could think up.
Of the handful that took me up on my offer, usually the talks didn’t convert, because most artists in the city can’t afford much more than free services. So I had to pivot my artist-focused model to B2B, partnering with the organizations to pay me to provide programming for their constituents. And slowly my 1-on-1 consulting began to focus exclusively on entrepreneurs, who are generally more engaged in fundraising. (And the need is just as great for diverse fundraising in business as the arts.)
But the full circle moment for me, last week, was being on the call with the COO of one of the organizations I dreamt of partnering with all those years ago, feeling like I was FINALLY IN THE RIGHT ROOM, TALKING TO THE RIGHT PEOPLE. It has literally been 5 years walking uphill to get there. And to have this decision maker immediately recognize the value of my expertise and offer, and immediately request we continue the partnership, was so gratifying.
But I’d be remiss not to share my expertise in this post as well. The same arts organizations I dreamt of partnering with 5 years ago have been hardest hit by the pandemic, and are taking the longest to recover. My struggle to create a viable business to serve the market I first intended reflects a broader economic decline, and the devastation it has wrought on the arts. And to be frank, if I’d kept trying to serve the narrow community I first envisioned, refusing to adapt/pivot, my business would have died.
Today, sitting on the other side of the table with these executives, it’s clear how limited the budgets these organizations have, how limited their staff and bandwidth, basically how great the problem/opportunity is, depending on which side of the coin you’re looking at.
All of this to say: it does not happen overnight.
You may be saying the right things to the wrong people. Or you have the right ideas packaged in the wrong offer. Or you think you’re B2C when your magic is best served B2B. Or you think your ideal audience is one set of people (ie, artists) when it’s a different one entirely (eg, entrepreneurs, or organizations that support artists or nonprofits or entrepreneurs). You’ll find the right people. You’ll find the right offer. You’ll find the right answers. You just have to keep going. 💛
P.S. In case you’re wondering what my company does (as I sometimes get tagged on posts for services I don’t offer), please see below!
“Crowdfund Your Dream advises on a range of fundraising strategies from equity investment and friends & family campaigns, to crowdfunding, individual giving, corporate and fiscal sponsorship—executing integrated, multi-channel, culturally-responsive campaigns that incorporate email, social media, digital/print marketing, websites, video, ads, press, pitch decks, and direct mail.”
