[Osmf-talk] Consultation on fundraising strategy

[steveaOSM]

On Mar 16, 2023, at 11:05 PM, Paul Norman via osmf-talk <osmf-talk at openstreetmap.org> wrote:
> There's a lot of work in fundraising, and if there aren't qualified volunteers wanting to work on it, we need to pay someone to do so.

100% agreed.  Emphasis on “a lot” and “qualified.”  It usually takes a sometimes-visionary, special, highly-skilled person with an almost unlimited sense of creativity and what often turns out in retrospect to be an amazing set of talents who can lead efforts to fundraise.  (Early, careful research and consulting must be able to pay rich dividends, as such investments are both sound and absolutely necessary).  There might have to be surveys and setting of expectations…these things can take time.  Fundraising is a sort of work that isn’t like anything else, and while you might be able to get people to help “answer phones” (in an old-fashioned sense of how this was once and is sometimes still done), they’ll be “reading a script” that must be quite highly tuned to the particular audience and situation(s) where a particular “fundraising drive” is underway.  It is exceedingly culturally-sensitive (Canada isn’t the USA isn’t the Philippines isn’t Austria…), time-appropriate (you might not want to “hit people up” more than once a year, and even then only in a way that many are prepared to receive as not-too-often and “oh, yeah, look at how the past twelve months have just flown by…” and specific, as in “because our national chapter newsletter has prepared us for this / these (annual) solicitations, we’re ready for them and so we’re that much more likely to respond well and give generously…”.  While a “corporate donor” solicitation script is quite different from a “national chapter email annual” solicitation script, such myriad approaches will need almost constant tuning to get them right.  This is real work, but it is worth it when people actually "grateful to give” are the results.

Fundraising is a highly unique activity, where a kind of empathic resonance with the multiple audiences of many different kinds of donors must be simultaneously respected, honored and catered to.  I’m saying it can be done, absolutely 100% it can be done.  Though, it must be done rather carefully to be successful.  Yes, we are made up of volunteers and I expect that will be a strong component of how we eventually do this.  But similar to our legal team and other places in OSM(F) where deeply experienced professionals are found, this is another realm where “installing the very best people” is paramount.

We (OSM) can do this.