fundraising
Podcast: Dr. Bill Withers and The Relationship Era
Dr. Bill Withers is a trailblazer. He’s a leadership professor at Wartburg College, and also a prolific writer and speaker. You’ll most often find him in one of his trademark Hawaiian shirts. You’ll also find him interacting with his students where they live: social media.
A few years back, Bill started teaching a summer course entirely on Facebook. After engaging students in an agreement to friend and follow each other, Bill took the plunge and the course was a success. He’s accustomed to receiving emails in the middle of the night from students, but using social media has “made things more real time for me,” he says. During the course, he’s on his iPad engaging students constantly.
It works because the highly responsive “stream of consciousness“ environment is the mode for students today.
“It is a really different dynamic and something I have had to adapt to, but it is the way that students today are exchanging information and learning,” he says.
And it applies to fundraising. This transition to the “relationship era” coined by marketing researchers and sociologists is what Bill talked about during his lunch keynote earlier this year at the CASE VI conference in Denver. The transition is crucial for fundraisers, because we can no longer expect alumni and donors to just show up because we are here. “It used to be, if you build it they will come…not, we have to shoot for long-term, deep, pervasive, sustainable relationships.”
This transition has hit the customer service industry, Bill’s research area, square on over the last decade. We’ve all noticed the Twitter feeds and social media outreach by big brands and small businesses alike. “It’s where we are going to be for decades,” he says. Building long-term relationships with immediate and responsive communications is behind the successful campaigns of recent years. The strategy directly applies to fundraising and alumni engagement.
Bill says: Technology creates an environment of instant gratification, but people don’t come to brand or cause loyalty that leads to big investment easily. “It’s going to take time to build trust.” He says that many new development officers become frustrated because we’re used to quick results. This may cause them to leave the field. He quotes Peter Drucker: “The fruit of your work grows on other people’s trees.”
In a changing world moving at the speed of technology, building these relationships is no longer going to be a predictable process. What Bill described at CASE VI is the “permanent whitewater world” that we’re in with alumni. “There is always going to be turbulence and rocks, it will be hard to see around the bend.”
Leaders need to provide direction, but realize that the water will always be moving. “The only way to move an organization forward now is to stay in the water and navigate it,” he explains.
Bill’s advice to university and charity leaders: “It’s time that we embrace change and be more nimble and responsive. Let’s not have change done to us. Let’s lead with change.”
Well said, Dr. Withers.
Listen to my interview with Bill, where he explains why the relationship era is important for fundraisers, and even a little commentary on the genius behind the good work and marketing campaigns at TOMS shoes, and how we are integrating philanthropy into both education and marketing.
Then check out Bill’s website and find out more about the Institute for Leadership Education and the great faculty at Wartburg College.
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