When Things Don’t Go Your Way, How Can You Still Win?

Prospective donors look forward to talking with you. Donors love you. Your colleagues are supportive. Your appeals achieve record success. When everything works the way it should, being a fundraising professional is fulfilling and enormously fun.

Unfortunately, things seldom go completely according to plan. Problems arise. Conflicts simmer. Unexpected events bring new challenges.

So, what can you do to become or remain a champion fundraising professional in the face of anticipated and unanticipated challenges?

The answer: Think like an Olympian.

I enjoy watching the Olympics. I like the competitions, and I like the human-interest stories. We can learn a great deal from Olympic athletes. If you want to be a champion, it’s a good idea to discover what champions do to succeed. For example, let’s look at a story involving Hope Solo, the gold-medal goalkeeper for the USA Women’s Soccer Team.

At the start of the 2016 Rio Olympics, USA faced New Zealand on the soccer field. Whenever the ball came near Solo, Brazilian football fans booed and, at times, chanted “Zika.” According to a report in The Washington Post, Brazil’s football fans were unhappy with Solo’s pre-Olympic comments about Brazil and her concerns about the Zika virus.

Prior to making the trip to South America, Solo took to social media to say she was thinking about not going. Ultimately, she “begrudgingly” announced she would participate in the games, but that she planned on being well armed with mosquito repellent. She also joked that she would bring enough for anyone else in the Olympic Village who might need some.

Solo’s concern is not unjustified. Zika is a serious virus that is transmitted by mosquito. The first major outbreak began in Brazil. In addition to causing other health problems, the virus can cause major birth defects if contracted by a pregnant woman.

Nevertheless, Brazilians were not pleased with Solo’s ongoing commentary about Zika.

So, Solo faced two issues when she took the field against New Zealand:

Soccer Star’s 3 Tips will Make You a Champion Fundraiser

As fundraising professionals, we strive to be the most effective we can be. But, what does it take to be better than a good fundraiser? What does it take to be a champion fundraising professional?

To become a champion, it’s wise to seek the advice of champions. Recently, soccer star Carli Lloyd shared three fundamental tips for success with young athletes. Her advice is just as meaningful for fundraisers.

Before I share Lloyd’s tips with you, let me highlight why I think it’s worth paying attention to what she has to say. (I also want to point out, for my international readers, that “soccer” is how Americans refer to what you call “football.”

Carli Lloyd is a soccer superstar. She was a member of the US national women’s soccer team that won the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup Championship. In the final FIFA game, Lloyd scored three goals leading Team USA to a 5 – 2 victory over Japan. In addition, Lloyd is a two-time Olympic gold medalist who scored the winning goals in the finals of both the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

Lloyd knows what it takes to win. And she recently shared her knowledge with 200 young athletes at the Universal Soccer Academy in Lumberton, NJ where she had trained for a dozen years. Lloyd has taught young girls at the camp on eight occasions.

Here are three of her key tips:

1. “Practice.” Since Lloyd is an Olympic and World Cup champion, you might think she no longer needs to practice hard. After all, she’s already at the top of her game. Well, to get and stay at the top, Lloyd still practices between two and six hours a day to learn new techniques and hone her skills.

Just as there’s no such thing as a natural-born soccer player, there’s no such thing as a natural-born fundraiser. You have to learn the necessary skills, gain experience, and practice what you’ve learned.

Reading professional books, publications, and blogs; participating in webinars, workshops, and conferences; and working with a mentor are just some of the ways fundraisers can build their skills. Writing appeal letters or proposals and having them critiqued by a senior professional is one way to hone your skills. Role-playing a major donor visit is also a great way to enhance your skills before sitting down with an important prospect.

The key to being a champion is to always seek new knowledge and practice your skills no matter how good you are already. You can always improve.