Lessons Learned
- Erica McWhorter
- Jan 6
- 5 min read
From Ideals to Strategic Action
“We are not looking for the answer, we are looking for the next right action. And the learning comes from taking that action, reviewing the result, and adapting.”
— adrienne maree brown
Table of Contents
1. On Lessons Learned
2. Lesson 1: How to Build a Well-Oiled Fund Development Machine
3. Lesson 2: Mature Movement Building
4. What’s Next
On Lessons Learned
Welcome to Excelevate's annual Lessons Learned post. Every year, I take time to reflect on the major strategic shifts, unexpected insights, and essential wisdom gleaned from working with values-oriented leaders in the nonprofit and government sectors.
You should know what we learned last year. You can find that here.
In this post we highlight two strategic shifts I learned last year that you can't afford to miss.
Lesson 1: How to Build a Well-Oiled Fund Development Machine
I've always viewed fund development as a strategy, and recently, I've been putting that theory to the test by identifying ways to turn it into powerful strategic action. I’ve identified some key ways to build actionable strategies into existing systems and processes that any entity can use – formal or grass roots.
First, organization is key. Identifying and storing documentation about your funding is critical for reporting, analysis, and building your case for support and future funding requests.
Second, there is no strategy without a goal. Before you fundraise in any form or draft a fundraising plan, you should have a clear and specific goal in mind (beyond the purpose of your funding). The goal must specifically identify the dollar amount and specific budgeted use (or line item) of those future dollars. This means you aren't just fundraising; you are budgeting. The organization and the board will think very differently (and I’m betting much more realistically) about a grant or proposal when it is tied to the organization’s budget.
Strategic Sidenote: This includes budgeting for funding that has to be obligated to cover your new funding, such as match, reimbursements, and indirect costs. In this way your goal and fundraising budget also accounts for the costs of reaching your goal (e.g., bringing in resources). This is what helps you identify the types of funding needed to reach your goal, which informs your strategy, which dictates your fundraising plan. See the process: Budgeted goal strategy plan.
Third, every organization must give itself permission to adopt a nimble strategy. Fund development is inherently exploratory. Being willing to test and adapt is key to having a fund development plan that will work for current and future needs.
Learn with me
I’m looking forward to finishing “The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex” published by Incite!.
This month I’m (finally) reading “Thinking in New Systems” by Donnella H. Meadows. I can’t wait to bring these learnings to life in the funding and organizational development space.
In March I’ll publish some a-ha moments from my Excelevate Strategic Funding Tracker beta testers, so stay tuned for how others are building systems that work for them.
What I’ll do this year
Build out some tools and tips to help organizations create well-oiled machines of their own.
Lesson 2: Mature Movement Building
Last year I participated in a wonderful series of trainings hosted by the Sustainable Economies Law Center teaching how to “Collaborate to Co-liberate”. The work explores best practices and living models of social movement organizations striving to build organizational structures that exemplify their values of a more inclusive, democratic, embodied, and life-giving world. My two favorite topics this year were Holding Change.
In Holding Change, presented by Harmonize, we discovered we are at a new phase or inflection point in movement (and social impact) work. Specifically, movement building is maturing. We’ve critiqued (named the problems and the gaps), demanded pure actions that fully align to ideals, and developed tons of ideas and mantras that point towards values.
It is now time to go beyond those things and close the gap between our visions and reality, creating the change we seek. This means moving from critique to actions, from mantras to a nuanced case by case approach that more precisely observes and assesses how situations may include many values. Finally, we must move from purity to pragmatic recognition of the impossibility of full alignment right now, willingness to take best available action, and evaluating actions based on consequences.
This acknowledgement of the distance movements have come and the steps needed to move forward beyond the desire or demand for change is what made this session so special and valuable.
Learn with me
You can find more on the SELC’s Collaborate to Co-Liberate peer learning journey, including last year’s modules, here.
This reminded me a lot of the ideas in “Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds” by adrienne marie brown and the need to be adaptive while being responsive to our current moment. You can read my blog post with my takeaways on that here.
My takeaways
It is time for pragmatism. More often than not it is necessary to identify and take the best action you can in the moment. Waiting for perfect alignment—of vision, values, or ideals—is time wasted. It’s time to move forward as a collective, building the shared vision, identifying the next best steps, and gathering allies and agreement along the way.
It is time for creativity. When the system does not meet the vision we must not stop to make and perfect the critique. Instead, we must create the system we need to move toward the vision. This requires pragmatism too. It may not be possible to fully develop or implement an entirely new system to meet your vision or values, but action likely can be taken to create something that leads to it. One step forward beats standing in place.
What I’ll do this year
Encourage pragmatism and creativity. Sometimes we need reminding we are ready to move beyond visioning and problem identification.
“Organizational growth is meaningless unless it serves the growth of the community. Our lessons learned must always be measured by the depth of our impact, not the breadth of our programs.” — Jacqueline Novogratz
What’s Next
Consider
What have you come across that was a dose of brilliance this year? Share with me!
What will you do with the doses of brilliance you came across last year?
Test It Out
The Excelevate Funding Tracker’s beta test is under way, but you can follow our journey and lessons learned for how to build your own well-oiled fund development machine here on the blog! Stay tuned.
Find It Here
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This post is part of the “Lessons Learned” series.
If you need help well-oiled fund development machine or doing things differently, reach out. Let me know how I can help you achieve your goals. If you would just like to chat or partner, I'm here for that too!
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