In many cultural organisations and charities – certainly the ones I’ve worked at, the fundraisers and the marketing teams are kept separate, and never the twain shall meet. The rationale behind this makes sense at face value: these are entirely different skill sets: a fundraiser’s job is to bring in income and build relationships; the marketer’s to “sell” the product.
I bought into this myself when I interviewed for my role at the Vagina Museum: I vividly remember giving a full accounting, in the form of a five-minute speech, about how I was only half qualified for the job because I was just a marketing manager, with limited fundraising experience. Once I’d finished, a Trustee on the interview panel blinked at me in befuddlement and said, “I asked if you had any questions.”
I got the job, and as it turns out, your marketers and fundraisers should be talking to each other constantly.
The language barrier
Fundraisers and marketers are, by and large, doing exactly the same thing, but using a slightly different language to describe their work. For example, what fundraisers call stewardship is what marketers call the marketing funnel. A fundraiser has an interest in maintaining a relationship with donors, so they will donate again and again, perhaps ultimately leaving a legacy. Meanwhile, the marketer’s intention is to take a customer and keep them with the organisation, building loyalty so that person will become an advocate of the organisation.
The only real difference here is that fundraisers view stewardship as a pyramid in which supporters progress up, while marketers view it as a funnel in which supporters progress down. Rotate either 180 degrees, and you are looking at an identical journey.
