How to be a Fundraising Super Bowl Star

The Fundraising Super Bowl is your nonprofit's big game - and winning looks like raising the funds you need to serve. Here are some lessons from that "other" big game.

Football coaching legend Vince Lombardi famously said to his almost-champion Green Bay Packers team,  “Gentlemen, this is a football.”

What he meant was they needed to execute the basics well, if they expected to win the big championship game. They had failed to win the championship the year before. But by focusing on the basics, they became a football dynasty.

Lombardi's advice is relevant to you, today, as a nonprofit fundraiser.

Even the best players aren’t perfect.

This year, the winning Super Bowl quarterback was Patrick Mahomes. He completed 21 of 27 passes in the big game. The Eagles’ Jalen Hurts completed 27 of 38 passes.  Not perfect. I find that reassuring.

During the season, the Mahomes completed  67% of his passes.  I’m sure he’d love to be perfect, but he also knows there has never been a perfect game. Nobody has ever started and finished a game without throwing an incomplete pass.

Can you imagine if Patrick Mahomes went out to play, threw a couple of incomplete passes, and then said, "That’s it! We obviously need to just run the ball. No more passing, because I can’t complete every one." He wouldn't do that, because he knows 67% is good.

You Real Job as the Fundraising Quarterback
If you’re the quarterback on your fundraising team. You have a job to do. And that job is simply to move the ball down the field. You line up your team, and execute the appropriate play for the moment. 

In fundraising, that means you’re doing the basics: 

• Communicating consistently with donors
• Getting your message in front of new people
• Thanking them when they give
• Sending emails 
• Telling stories 
• Reporting back

Ladies, and gentlemen, this is an email.
This is a phone call.
This is a face to face visit.

These are the basics that move us incrementally down the field, one play at a time.

Some of those incompletes have nothing to do with you. Other times, you need more practice, training, or time with a coach.

Keep doing the basics–with excellence.
If you need training to tell your stories, check out Mission Writers. 

If you struggle to tell stories, you’ll struggle to raise funds. 
In the Mission Writers course:

• Learn the exact stories that every ministry, missionary, and nonprofit needs to tell.
• Master the fundraising story calendar.
• Develop and practice essential storytelling skills to increase funding for your mission.
• Build your story library and your confidence.

Details at MissionWriters.org
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Transcript

Kay  0:00  
Gentleman, this is a football. pretend with me there that there's a football here. Gentleman, this is a football. These are the words of football coaching legend Vince Lombardi. And his advice is relevant to you today as a nonprofit fundraiser. Stick with me. I'll show you how on the life and mission Podcast.

Kay  0:31  
I'm Kay Helm, and on this episode of Life and Mission, I want to look at what it takes to win the Super Bowl. Of course, for us, winning the Super Bowl looks like raising the funds that we need to serve. To do the thing that we're called to do. This past Sunday, in Super Bowl 57, the Kansas City Chiefs won a game that went right down to the wire. Two top tier quarterbacks just turned in stellar performances, but neither one of them was perfect. All right, remember that. Now we'll look at that in a minute. 

Kay  1:06  
But first I want to go back to the quote that I started with. In 1961. On the first day of training camp for the Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi stepped up in front of his team. Now the previous season, they had lost the championship, they lost it in the fourth quarter was disappointing, because they think they were good. These are some of the best players. And he steps in front of them. And he holds up the football and he says gentlemen, this is a football. And what he meant is we've got to get the basics. We've got to get the basics right if we want to win, and they did training camp, like from the ground up. Here's how you block. Here's how you tackle, right? This is a football. Every small thing. 

Kay  2:02  
Lombardi never lost in the playoffs again. The Super Bowl trophy. It is named the Vince Lombardi trophy. Okay, so this works this cold going back to basics thing. The guy knows what he's doing. 

Kay  2:15  
So this year, the winning quarterback was Patrick Mahomes. Okay, now in the game, he completed 21 out of 27 passes. His opponent on the other side, the Eagles Jalen hertz, he completed 27 of 38 passes, see, not perfect, neither one of them. And I find that reassuring. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves as fundraisers. But when you talk to people about funding your mission, do you always get a yes. Hmm, yeah, I mean, me neither. And it doesn't feel good. You know, when somebody tells you know, face to face, or when somebody says Not now, or when somebody you know, gets you send a letter or you send them maybe information that they asked for, and then you just don't hear back or they don't return your calls, like somebody goes to you. Or if you just don't get a response, when you send out that appeal, or not the response that you had hoped for. Those are all disappointments that you're going to have, at least from time to time as a fundraiser. So just have heart because these guys are at the top of their game at the highest level. They're not perfect. And you at the top of your game at the highest level. You're not perfect, and that is normal. 

Kay  3:37  
Did you know that during the season, the Super Bowl winning quarterback had a 67% pass completion? Record? 67% That's less than seven completions for every 10 passes. You know, wow. Is that good? Like in school 67% Is not passing. Okay. But in football, it's really good. During the during the regular season, the Super Bowl winning quarterback Patrick mahomes had a he completed just 67% of his passes. Now I'm sure he'd love to be perfect. And you know, we see these guys kind of kicking themselves sometimes when the pass isn't completed. But he also knows that there has never been a perfect game. Nobody has ever started and finished a game without throwing an incomplete pass. Absolutely. Nobody ever in the history of the game. 

Kay  4:38  
We're human. The people receiving on the other hand are human. We all have other things going on. There are all kinds of things that get in the way of that completion of the pass. So could you imagine then, if Patrick Mahomes went out to play and he threw a couple of incomplete passes And then he said, "That's it. That's it, guys, we obviously just need to run the ball, no more passing, because I can't complete everyone and until I'm going to go back and work on my game, and until I can pat complete every pass, we're just going to run the ball, that's I'm not going to pass anymore until I can guarantee that it's going to be complete every time." Right? That would be crazy. No, don't do that man, you just can't do that, right. 

Kay  5:29  
And then there are a lot of factors that can determine whether the pass gets completed or not. And some of those don't have anything to do with you. So if you're the quarterback, of your fundraising team, you have a job to do. And that job is not to complete every pass. And that job is not to get a touchdown, every time you get the ball. It I mean, you'd love to, but it rarely, like, you know, that's not how it happens, right? But you're but your real job is to move the ball down the field. Okay, you are not trying for a touchdown on every play, you line up your team and you execute the appropriate play for the moment. 

Kay  6:11  
So in fundraising, that means you're doing the basics. You are communicating consistently with your donors, you are getting the message in front of new people, you are thanking people when they give, you are sending emails, you are telling stories, and you're reporting back to people. Ladies and gentlemen, this is an email. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a phone call. This is a face to face visit. These are the basics that move us incrementally down the field, one play at a time. And sometimes you're going to pass sometimes you're going to run and not everything you do is going to work. Some things are hit most of the time, but not every time. And that's okay. It's nothing personal. 

Kay  7:05  
And some of those incompletes. Like I've said, they have nothing to do with you. In other times, though, you do need more practice. Or maybe you need more training in an area. Or sometimes you need a coach, maybe you've got an injury that keeps you from playing your best. So if you've been hurt by something somebody said or did or if you've got those ministry wounds, or if you don't have people encouraging you along the way, those are all things that need attention, they need treatment, they need healing. And it happens. It's just it's part of the game, we treat the wound. And we do the basics. play by play. story by story. And here's, you know, this is the role that I want to play in this. 

Kay  7:53  
I want to see you win. I want to see you making those incremental steps. I want to see you getting better and better. Telling stories and sharing with your donors. I want to see you bring in people along with you building out your team, your fan base, and I'm cheering you on because I know you can do it. If you just get those basics in place and you practice them and you just do them over and over. And you just make those incremental moves, you can do it. I'll leave you with one more Vince Lombardi quote, perfection is not attainable. But if we chase perfection, we can catch excellence. Keep executing those basics with excellence. And if you need training to help you tell your stories, check out mission writers. The link is in the show notes. Until next time, find your voice tell your story. Change the World

Transcribed by https://otter.ai