That is how we feel about our clients.  Ever read the Berenstain Bears books to children?  Our son, Austin, liked them a lot.  If it was our turn to pick, we usually chose Learn About Strangers.  Austin talked to everyone, and everyone loved talking him.  (By the way, he still does).  After letting him slip out of our sight a couple of times because he was engrossed in conversation, we grew very concerned about this.

Austin would sit on my lap and I would read it to him, then we would go through the check list at the end of the book together.  I would ask, “Austin, do you understand what to do when you see a stranger?”

To which he would respond, “Yeah, Dad.”

“Then why do you talk to everyone?”

“They aren’t strangers, Dad!  They want to be my friends.”

Well, that is the way we are as a company.  Our clients are our friends, our prospects become our friends, and many of our clients’ donors become friends.  That is because we are genuinely interested in how we can help and be supportive of their dreams.  You know what it is like to develop friendships.  You have been doing it since you were born, haven’t you?  In the best friendships, we say, “We are in this together.”

Well, in our relationships, we are raising money together.  And that, my friend, puts you in the thick of things pretty quickly.
Sometimes prospects tell us, “You are so big.  We are too small for you to care about us.”

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Sure, we are big, but we are the only consulting firm that has offered free service to struggling nonprofits in four states and the District of Columbia, helping 140 nonprofits in the first half of this year.  Many were strangers—that is, until we got to know their dreams and helped them find ways to increase philanthropy, because they needed to serve those who were depending on them to fulfill their missions.

We have walked side by side, “held the hands” of small nonprofits with only a few hundred thousand dollars of revenue, and helped them raise millions of dollars in a campaign.

Our growth has been through helping all levels and sizes of nonprofits.

Most of the people we worked with were strangers when we met.  But they remained strangers only a short time.   Raising money together has developed friendships that last a lifetime.  More importantly, those friendships have changed lives in countless ways.

Now, who wants to be friends?

Let’s be friends on Facebook!

In the last few days, Adrian Sargeant, the Robert F. Hartsook Chair in Fundraising at Indiana University and the Center on Philanthropy was named to the NonProfit Times “Top 50 Power and Influence in the NonProfit World.” He is the only academic and one of very few dedicated to fundraising in their profession.

And, of course, he is the only Hartsook-related person on the list, which probably doesn’t matter to most of you.  But it matters to me.  This isn’t a pride issue.

Okay, you got me . . . It is a pride issue.  But it is much more.

You know Hartsook Companies is dedicated to fundraising education and changing it to increase philanthropy.  This acknowledgment by NonProfit Times gives Adrian a new platform to talk about this important change that needs to happen in our field.  Our Hartsook Institutes masters degree in fundraising that was founded on the research Adrian and others have been pushing forward begins this fall at Avila University (Watch the Avila University TV spot).

This is exciting stuff!  Our field is changing.  Our own Karin Cox the author of a chapter in the new text on fundraising and the creator of what is being called the Cox Grid on Special Events.  Our COO, Matt Beem wrote the chapter on planned giving and my chapter is on major giving.  We each recorded support materials for these chapters for the new AFP/IU Diploma Program which will begin in 2011, the first academically credited diploma for a special credential.  And we already rewrote the American Humanics guidelines for fundraising undergraduate acknowledgment; the UK Professional Standards written by Adrian are approved.

So in the past four years Adrian and the Hartsook Institutes have begun the transformation of fundraising education in the world.

Many people ask why Hartsook has invested $5 million in advancing fundraising education in the past four years.

We did it because we know that the key to raising more philanthropic dollars is better qualified fundraisers.

Don’t misread this.  I’m not blaming fundraisers—I’m helping them!  Believe me, I’ve had employees who didn’t get it.  They no longer work for me.  They thought raising money the old fashioned way was good enough and that telling personal stories about what they thought would work was just fine.

It’s not hard to see that simply following the old rules and doing the same thing over and over will result in the same outcomes.  If you’re raising money with the “I’ve always done it this way” approach, I’m sorry to tell you, but you’re leaving money on the table.  A lot of money.  It’s sad, because the people who rely on you to fulfill your mission deserve more.

Are you interested in increasing philanthropy?

We are.  We are reaching out to organizations that have tread on that fundraising hamster wheel of experiential, anecdotal stories and misguided intuition.  It’s time for creativity and growth.  It’s time to use the research, not just read it.  A lot of people talk about the Bank of America study, Google study or the Sargeant Bequest Pledging study, but few apply it.  We do.  Why?  Because we must, if we are serious about growing philanthropy.

I have a small story of a recent young leader in fundraising we have been working with who is going to sweep people off their feet.  Nick took a $1,000 donor and moved her to $100,000 because he believed, then to $750,000 where she is going to join the leaders of this organization.  She will make a $6 million dollar gift in her estate.  Nick is interested in growing philanthropy.  He’s got it.

In 20 years we are going to have a cadre of fundraisers—Nick included—who have been trained and educated by various tools that the Hartsook Chair, Adrian Sargeant, developed.  This is the beginning of a partnership that is growing philanthropy.

Now, we add this recognition to the Top 50 Power and Influence in the nonprofit field to the long list of honors Adrian has earned.  I know Adrian.  He is humbled by the honors, but he will tell you, “It’s not about me.  I’m interested in increasing philanthropy.”

Congratulations, Adrian on this new recognition.   You are changing fundraising thought and challenging the status quo.  You are changing the world.  I am glad you let me jump on for the ride.