Do boards and bosses want to ensure that they are the hero in the story?

What do you get when you put an academic who is all about the most effective fundraising methods between two rabble rousers who never shy away from giving their opinions. That was the lineup today on The Fundraising Talent Podcast with Dr. Russell James, author of The Socratic Fundraiser, and Greg Warner, founder of MarketSmart. The essence of our conversation was whether fundraisers both desire and know how to have genuine conversations with their donors and whether using the Socratic method is the ideal pathway to the meaningful opportunities that are available to our organizations. Today’s conversation reminds me of earlier conversations in which we’ve talked about how the sector has seemingly confused the advantages of being great story-tellers with those of being great story-listeners.What I found especially thought-provoking was how we ended up asking why boards and bosses are notoriously uninterested in fundraising methods that afford the fundraiser and donor opportunities for meaningful dialogue. While we can all agree on the reasons why one would allow the donor to be the hero in their own story, we must ask ourselves why we don’t design strategies that allow this to happen. Greg’s explanation for why this doesn’t happen as it should really had me thinking; more often than not, fundraising design reflects the desires of boards and bosses who want to ensure that they maintain their role as the hero in the story.As always, we are especially grateful to our friends at CueBack for sponsoring The Fundraising Talent Podcast. If you’d like to learn more about hosting the Responsive Fundraising roadshow in your local community, email me for more information. And, if you’d like to download Responsive’s latest edition of Carefully & Critically, just click here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fundraisingtalent.substack.com