In a new endeavour to strengthen peer to peer networks, groups of 4-6 South Australian-based arts fundraisers have been meeting once a month for four months for a cup of coffee in a café in the Adelaide CBD. The groups were convened based on an expression of interest form, aligning people’s availability, their interest areas and career stage. Each group is a mix of people working across artforms and from organisations from the micro to the mega, designed to bring together those who might not have the opportunity to intersect.
From a simple idea (which admittedly resulted in a reliably complicated coffee order - double shot oat latte anyone?) emerged a series of diverse and wide-ranging discussions. Some threads carried through all 32 conversations.
Lesson 1: Craving peer to peer connection
Whilst the work of building support for arts organisations through philanthropy and partnerships is about building meaningful connections to supporters, arts fundraisers crave the opportunity to connect with peers and share frustrations and successes. Feeling seen, heard and understood by peers (no you aren’t the only one ready to scream if someone else suggests you run a fundraising gala) was a common remark.
Lesson 2: Simple but effective
Bringing together small groups of people for informal (gently facilitated) conversations in a CBD café is simple idea. No set up time or venue booking, no panellists briefed, or agenda prepared and yet people consistently showed up and left connected and informed, having had an opportunity to build a relationship with a peer they didn’t know they had before.
Sometimes we complicate things, including fundraising. There might be a lesson in here for how your next fundraising event could bring people together for a good old-fashioned chat in the simplest setting possible.
Lesson 3: Reaching outside your known network
Adelaide is a small town and the arts is a relatively connected sector, and yet in every single group at least half the group didn’t know each other, especially across artforms.
The opportunity to reach outside your known network and find common ground on what you are trying to achieve is gold. Contrasts and comparisons are helpful, but many principles of arts fundraising hold true whether you’re a major performing arts company adding a tier to your already three tier donor circle program or an artist run initiative running your first end of financial campaign.
Lesson 4: Professional development opportunities don’t all look the same
We are used to professional development opportunities looking a certain way, often involving workshop outlines, full day/half day agendas and pre and post event reading.
This experience was professional development with a more informal bow tied around it. There were sticky notes involved at times but otherwise from outside it would have looked like a group of friends gathering in a café. And yet senior fundraisers with decades of experience under their belt turned up consistently sharing and learning from their peers.
For some the challenge was claiming the space for the opportunity among a very busy schedule. And despite what you might think, a more senior job title didn’t equate to less ability to commit to prioritise their own development amid the weight of their everyday workload.
Lesson 5: It is all just a matter of scale
At the last gathering of each of the eight groups, everyone was asked to record on a sticky note a goal they would like to achieve in their fundraising within the next twelve months.
Two responses across two groups stood out:
- An early career fundraiser in a multi-arts organisation identified the goal of wanting to personally make a direct ask to an existing supporter to increase their support to an annual contribution of $1,000. To date they had seen their manager ‘make the ask’ but they personally were yet to lead such a conversation.
- An established arts fundraiser who had worked across the visual arts, education and classical music expressed the goal of wanting to personally make a direct ask to an existing supporter for a one-million-dollar contribution.
When each person unpacked what stood in their way of being able to reach that goal, the responses were strikingly similar (cue the arts’ special mix of a lack of confidence, feeling time poor and waiting for the perfect alignment of the board, staff and program offering). The takeaway - it is all just a matter of scale.
This article was written by Hannah Kothe, State Manager Development and Partnerships, SA/NT. Thankfully, she drinks decaf - with soy milk of course.
Creative Australia’s State Manager Development and Partnerships provide a free coaching and advice service aimed at building the fundraising capability of individuals and organisations within the cultural and creative industries. They also facilitate a variety of peer-to-peer learning and networking opportunities. Reach out to relevant local State Manager Development and Partnerships to discuss how you can engage in your local network.
