You May Not Have a Fundraising Problem

You may have a clarity problem.

One of the things I see repeatedly in nonprofit work is that when fundraising gets difficult, the immediate response is to look for more opportunities. We need another grant. We need another campaign. We need to host an event. We need to reach more donors. We need to diversify revenue. Sometimes those things are absolutely necessary, but they all begin with the assumption that the problem is fundraising. Before adding another strategy to the development calendar, I think there is a more fundamental question worth asking: Are we actually clear about what we're asking people to invest in?

There is a line from Office Space that has become something of a cultural reference: “What would you say you do here?” It was certainly not intended as advice for nonprofit leaders, but it is a surprisingly useful question for our sector. If someone unfamiliar with your organization asked what you do, could you give them a clear answer? Could you explain the problem you're addressing, who benefits from your work, what you are trying to change, and why your organization is equipped to do something about it? More importantly, if I asked your executive director, a staff member, several board members, and a volunteer those same questions, would I hear different versions of the same story or descriptions that sound like entirely different organizations?

That question becomes even more important when we look at what donors are telling us. BBB Wise Giving Alliance's 2026 Donor Trust Report found that 67.7% of U.S. adults say trusting a charity is essential before donating, yet only 18.3% report a high level of trust in charities. At the same time, 42.1% say they are open to being approached by charities, including 27.9% who say they might give more if asked. The opportunity to engage donors exists, but organizations still have a significant trust gap to overcome.

Clarity is one way we begin closing that gap.

Nonprofits do extraordinarily complex work, and I think that complexity is part of what makes this difficult. We become deeply immersed in our programs, terminology, funding requirements, strategic plans, outcomes, theories of change, and the language of our particular corner of the sector. That language can be useful and, in many settings, necessary. The problem comes when we assume the people outside our organizations understand it too. A prospective donor shouldn't need years of nonprofit experience or a glossary of industry terminology to understand why your work matters.

Being clear doesn't mean diminishing the complexity of the problem you're addressing. It means communicating that complexity in a way another human being can understand and connect with. There is an important difference between simplifying your work and communicating it simply. One minimizes the work; the other makes the work accessible.

That accessibility matters because donors are actively looking for information before making decisions. Among people who seek information before giving, 54% say a charity's own website is an influential source, according to the 2026 Give.org research. Separate 2026 research on online giving platforms found that trust among platform users was strongly influenced by transparency about fees and how funds are used (53%) and clear, accurate information about charities (51%).

In other words, what your organization says—and how clearly you say it—matters.

People aren't simply investing in your mission statement. They're investing in what your mission makes possible. A donor needs to understand the connection between the problem, your organization's response, the resources required, and the change their investment can help create. “Support our mission” may be technically accurate, but it places all the responsibility on the donor to determine what their support actually accomplishes. Strong fundraising makes that connection visible.

This is where storytelling becomes an important part of fundraising, but I think we sometimes define storytelling too narrowly. It isn't simply finding an emotional client story for an appeal or putting a compelling testimonial into an annual report. Your organization's larger story includes the need you're responding to, the people and communities involved, the approach you've chosen, the outcomes you're pursuing, and the role donors and partners can play in making that work possible.

Nancy Raybin, a longtime nonprofit and philanthropy strategist speaking at Yale School of Management's Social Impact Lab, emphasized storytelling about an organization's mission as a central part of fundraising. Her discussion also connected successful fundraising with alignment between board and executive leadership, financial honesty, donor relations, operational transparency, and helping donors understand how their money is being used.

That is an important distinction. A good story doesn't just make someone feel something. It helps them understand something.

Before that story can resonate externally, however, there needs to be clarity internally. If leadership believes one priority is most important, staff is working toward another, the board is talking about something else, and your fundraising materials are making a completely different case for support, you don't simply have a communications problem. You have an organizational alignment problem, and eventually that problem will show up in fundraising.

This is one reason I don't believe fundraising can sit entirely on the shoulders of a development team. A development professional can create a campaign, research funding opportunities, write a compelling appeal, cultivate donors, and organize an event. What they cannot do alone is create organizational clarity. Sustainable fundraising is connected to leadership, board engagement, financial transparency, program outcomes, organizational priorities, community relationships, and stewardship. The story your development team tells has to be supported by the organization behind it.

Clarity also has implications far beyond fundraising. When an organization clearly understands what it does, why it does it, who it serves, and where it is going, decision-making becomes easier. Leadership has a stronger framework for determining which opportunities to pursue. Boards are better equipped to advocate for the organization. Staff can see how their work connects to larger priorities. Partners can identify opportunities for collaboration. Community members can understand the mission well enough to talk about it with someone else.

Clarity isn't simply a communications tactic. It's a growth strategy.

So what does this look like in practice? Before launching the next fundraising campaign, I would start with a simple internal exercise. At your next board or staff meeting, independently ask participants to write down what your organization does, what problem you are trying to solve, who you serve, what your three most important priorities are right now, and what you are asking donors to make possible. Then compare the responses.

You are not looking for everyone to recite the same elevator pitch. You're looking for alignment. Do the answers describe the same organization? Do people agree about the priorities? Can they connect financial investment with tangible outcomes? Can they explain the work without relying heavily on industry terminology? If the answers vary dramatically, resist the temptation to treat it only as a marketing problem. There may be a deeper strategic conversation that needs to happen.

Next, review your public-facing communications through the eyes of someone who knows nothing about your organization. Look at your website, donation page, social media profiles, grant language, sponsorship materials, and most recent fundraising appeal. Within a few minutes, could someone understand what you do, why it matters, what you're trying to accomplish, and what their contribution helps make possible? This is particularly important when donors themselves report relying on charity websites and clear, accurate information when making giving decisions.

Finally, replace vague fundraising language with specific connections between investment and impact. Instead of simply asking someone to “support the mission,” help them understand what participation in that mission looks like. That doesn't mean every organization needs to reduce its work to a simplistic “$25 buys X” equation. It means your donor should leave the conversation understanding what their investment helps your organization accomplish and why that outcome matters.

When fundraising isn't producing the results you hoped for, I would resist the temptation to immediately assume you need to do more. Before adding another campaign, grant application, event, or donor strategy, examine the foundation underneath the fundraising.

Ask whether your organization is clear about its priorities. Ask whether your leadership and board are aligned. Ask whether your community can understand your impact. Ask whether donors know what their money makes possible. And then return to that deceptively simple question:

“What would you say we do here?”

If the answers are all over the place, pay attention to that. It may be telling you something much more important about your strategy, your organizational alignment, and ultimately your fundraising readiness.

At Conscious Community Strategies, this is a big part of how I approach nonprofit consulting. I'm less interested in helping an organization simply do more and much more interested in helping it understand what it should be doing, why it matters, and how all of the pieces work together. Sustainable fundraising isn't built solely on the next ask. It is built on an organization people can understand, trust, and confidently invest in.

Your nonprofit may not need another fundraising tactic. It may need greater clarity about what you're asking people to believe in, participate in, and invest in.

Sources

BBB Wise Giving Alliance, Donor Trust Report 2026: Trends in Donor Trust and Perspectives (2026).

BBB Wise Giving Alliance, Special Donor Trust Report: Online Giving Platforms and Donor Expectations (2026).

Yale School of Management, “Nonprofit Fundraising: The Why and How of Storytelling” (2025).