How to Shift Your Language to Increase Your Funding
You're doing the work,You've been around, you're credible, but money isn't flowing like it should. Your program isn't the problem, your positioning is. Why is positioning important? Funders use it make fast decisions. Nonprofits come from a founder's perspective . . . Shift to a Funder's perspective. Learn the language of Funding to help your funder see their ROI.
Episode 151 | You Don't Have a Funding Problem - You Have a Positioning Problem: How to Shift Your Language to Increase Your Funding
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🔦 NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT 🙌🏿
First Fifteen Pt. 3
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Got Questions? "Ask Amber" on any of my social media platforms or email me at [email protected].
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So you've been around for a minute. You're credible, you have receipts, but the money isn't flowing like it should. In this episode, I'll show you why your programs aren't the problem. Your positioning is
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome to On Air with Amber Wynn, where nonprofit leaders learn to fuse passion and commitment with proven business strategies to create long-term funding impact and sustainability. And now here's your host and resident, Philanthrepreneur Amber Wynn.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Hey fam, it's your girl, Amber Wynn, and today we're going to talk about why you don't have a funding problem. You have a positioning problem. All nonprofits are not created equal, and sometimes it just comes down to the language. I can have a nonprofit that will do the same thing as another nonprofit, but it's the way they explain it, and so I just want to share with you, if you've been around, you can demonstrate that you have impact, but you just can't sing to land those grants. It very well could be how you're positioning your organization. Now, historically, when people start their nonprofits, they start with their heart. They're committed to their community, they want to make a change, but the reality is you're not a marketing individual. You're just speaking your truth. Sometimes it's not about that. Sometimes it's about how you share your story, what it is that you're sharing, and just some minor tweaks can really change the flow.
(01:49):
In my course, the Nonprofit Mastery Academy, I talk to my founders about what it is that they're focusing on, and nine times out of 10, they're focusing on the wrong things. They're focusing on what their problems are. They're focusing on what their issues are, what their needs are. Let me tell you, a funder does not care, and I'm telling you this laughing because you would think, well, that's the whole purpose of a nonprofit. No, no, no, no, no. The purpose of a nonprofit funder is not to fund your organization. I'm going to say this one more time. The purpose of a nonprofit funder is not to fund your program. Their purpose is to achieve their funding goals. So when we come back, I'm going to talk to you about what positioning is and why funders use it to make fast decisions. When we come back, most founders don't realize that they're more applicants than there is money.
(02:51):
This fact impacts a nonprofit's fundability. Nonprofit founders should administer research on their competitors, determine if their community oversaturated, and identify their competitive advantage before they start a nonprofit. Check out how to validate your nonprofit idea, a step-by-step guide on how to administer the research. You need to validate your idea before spending hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars only to struggle to fund it. Get your copy today. Welcome back. You're on air with Amber Wynn, and today we're talking “Why you don't have a funding problem: You have a positioning problem”. Before we went to commercial, I shared with you that the purpose of a funder is not to fund your nonprofit, and that's one of the biggest misconceptions. When people start nonprofits, they'll say, oh, you're doing this and you're doing that. You need to start a nonprofit so you can get a grant for that.
(03:45):
This is why a lot of people end up self-funding their nonprofits because that's how they write their grants. I need you to fund my nonprofit. I need you to help these kids. This is the number one reason why your proposals get rejected, and I learned this in my evolution as a grant writer. I was a pretty successful grant writer, and what I learned is to write my grant to the funding goal, not to my program. Here's the truth. You're going to do the work anyway. You are. It's why you started your nonprofit. If we can keep it real, it's why you're not getting paid, but we want to make sure that we shift from you volunteering at your nonprofit to you actually getting paid, and so what it comes down to actually is you positioning your organization for success. What does that look like? Okay, I'm going to tell you, positioning is your area of focus.
(04:44):
If you're focusing on, please help me to fund this organization, please help these kids. That's not going to move your funder. Your focus needs to be on. How can you help this funder accomplish their funding goals? So it goes from we help people to do X, Y, and Z to we solve a fundable problem because the funder is trying to solve a problem. So if you give them what it is that they're looking for, they don't have to try and figure it out. When you look at nonprofits that are continuously funded over and over and you're like, I'm doing the same thing that they're doing. As a matter of fact, I'm doing it better. You can't figure out why this organization continues to get funded. It's because they figured out the secret sauce for the funder. They figured out how to tell them what it is they need to hear to convince them that the programs that they're delivering is going to help the funder accomplish their funding goals.
(05:42):
It's a slight shift in language, but it's a shift in language that changes the whole game, right? So what does that look like? The language of funding is outcomes, data and strategic alignment. Let's talk a little bit about outcomes. When I say outcomes, I want you to be able to explain to a funder what is going to happen as a result of them giving you money. I started off saying, people think that grants are free money. They are not. Grants are monies that are giving to you In exchange for a funder being able to say either to their board, to their investors, to the government as a result of investing money in this organization, this is what you get in return. Think about it. When the president stands in front of the country and he does his state of the union and he says, we've been able to reduce unemployment by 50%.
(06:45):
Your president didn't do it. Your Congress didn't do it, your assembly didn't do it, guess who did it? You. The nonprofit does the work. Nonprofit organizations is the sector that actually delivers direct services, but you've got to be able to collect that data, give it to your program officer. Your program officer then packages it up, sends it to the funding agency, whether that's a corporation, and then they use that data to stand in front of the country and say, this is what we've done. So in order for you to be seen as a viable partner and fundable, the funder needs to see that you understand what the goal is, so it's not about the work that you're doing, it's how you're positioning that. When we come back, I'm going to give you some real world examples on how you can shift your language so that it is being perceived as something that is enticing for a funder.
(07:45):
When we come back, if your grants aren't getting funded, it could be because the funder can't see how your programs are making an impact in your community. Get the how to demonstrate Impact workbook to quantify the work you're doing in your community in a way that a funder can see a potential return in your investment. Funders need proof that your organization will use their grant dollars to improve your community. That proof is called impact, and impact is quantified through measurable outcomes. Leverage my 30 years of program development experience to help increase your chance of securing funding. Order your copy today. Welcome back. You're on air with Amber Wynn, and today I'm really, really focusing on positioning because I have so many nonprofits come to me just in dire straits because they're doing the work and they're like, Amber, I just don't understand why I'm not getting funded.
(08:38):
We've been in the community for a long time. We even have examples, and so I don't understand why I'm not getting funded. Bless your heart. It's because you're not understanding the language of the funder, right? The language of the funder is this I before, this is what was going on in the community after our intervention, this is what happened as a result, and as a result, now you see a decrease in L-M-N-O-P. Most people when they're write their grants, they'll say something like, with your money, we can help strengthen communities. We work with individuals and we build their confidence. We help to uplift communities. Those are all vague statements and they are interpreted in different ways. Depending on your experience and your background. What you want to do is make sure that your outcomes, your measurable goals, the data that you collect are in alignment with the funder's goals.
(09:39):
Where do you find that? When you go visit your funder's website, you want to look at the guidelines. The guidelines are going to tell you all that you need to know, right? Who it is that they fund, what type of programs that they fund. Then you want to go to the FAQs. The FAQs are going to share with you what is not fundable. The last thing you want to do is say to a funder, and in our community, we provide afterschool snacks when on their FAQs, they say they don't fund food and beverages, so you want to be in alignment with what it is that the funder is actually willing to fund. If they say, oh, we only fund programs, then you're not going to put, please help us cover salaries. It's about your positioning and positioning is all about being in alignment with the funder.
(10:31):
When I talk about weak positioning, it's coming from the perspective of the funder is supposed to be helping you fund your nonprofit. Here's the thing, a nonprofit is a business, and business has business expenses. As a funder, my goal is to make sure that my funding goal is achieved. So if you're telling me, give me money so that I can cover business expenses, I'm not going to fund you because that's your responsibility. There are a lot of myths and misconceptions that are tied up in this challenge, so I want you to listen to me. Clearly, a nonprofit is a business, and there are certain things that a funder expects you to cover. They expect you to cover salaries. Now, some of those salaries are definitely covered by the program because if the program didn't exist, the position wouldn't exist. Let's take for example, if you have an afterschool tutoring program, you wouldn't have tutors if you didn't have the afterschool tutoring program, so those salaries would be included in the funders grant that they're going to give you.
(11:38):
But I'm talking about other things, right? If you're saying to a potential funder, we're looking for money because we want to continue to keep our doors open. That sounds to a funder that you want them to solve a business problem. That is your board's responsibility, the ability to keep the organization afloat. The ability to sustain your organization is the responsibility of the board. So if you're positioning your organization like that's not possible and you want the funder to come in and save you, they are not going to fund you. So it's really, really important to understand what it is that you are giving off to your funder. Are you looking to partner? Are you saying, Hey, I understand that your goal is to improve the climate? Your positioning should be For the last three years, we've done beach cleanups, we've removed 10 tons of trash from local beaches.
(12:38):
We've helped to save the ecosystem. Now, when a funder hears that, they hear, alright, they're in alignment with what it is I want to fund, as opposed to you saying, if we had more money, then we could hire more people, and then you can see the difference there. One is focusing on the problem of the nonprofit. The other is providing a solution to the funder. So when we talk about you not having a funding problem, but really a positioning problem, at the end of the day, you're doing the same thing. You're cleaning up the beaches, you are improving the climate. It's really just about what it is that you're saying to the funder. When we come back, I'm going to talk to you about how you can make small little tweaks that will increase your visibility and credibility overnight when we come back.
(13:36):
Welcome back. You're on air with Amber, and we're talking today about you not having a funding problem, but actually having a positioning problem. I want to wrap up this episode by giving you just a couple of tips on how you can improve the way that your funder actually sees you in terms of are you fundable? A couple of tweaks that can increase your visibility and credibility overnight on your website. On your website, on the very first page, I want you to post data statistics. First of all, make sure that your mission is very clear. The purpose of X, Y, and Z is to transform communities through blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So the funder is clear about what your mission is. Make sure that your mission is not vague. I can't tell you how many times I've overlooked an organization. I didn't really understand what it was that they were doing.
(14:31):
Sometimes my founders believe that if their mission is vague, that they'll increase their opportunities for funding, and it's the opposite. It's the opposite because as funders, funders are very narrow about what it is that they fund. If you serve everybody, we serve the mom, we serve the dad, we serve the kids, we serve the serve, the youth we serve. From zero to 85, you will not get funded because now you've positioned yourself as being, what's the saying, a jack of all trade and a master of none. Funders do not want to fund organizations that serve everybody. Why? Because it waters down the effectiveness in who is being served. If you are serving ages zero to 85, guess what? We have several stage developments in that whole spectrum. You're not going to provide the same level of service for an infant that you would a senior.
(15:28):
You're not going to provide the same type of programming that you would for someone who's in the third grade than you would for someone who's in high school. As a result, you should have subject matter experts who are providing those types of services. When I look at your budget and you say, we serve everybody and you don't even have salaries, you're not even getting a salary that says to me as a funder, you're not effective. It's all, but if you only serve a specific age range, let's say we serve 14 to 24 and you're helping them to develop business skills, how to become an entrepreneur, that's a specific age group that you can have one or two subject matter experts. You don't have to have this whole spectrum. So when you position yourself, you want to position yourself as a subject matter expert who can deliver.
(16:19):
That's why you need to narrow your target audience. That's why you need to narrow your geographical service area because the more narrow you are, the more likely that you are a subject matter expert in that area. If you're serving everybody, then you're thinning out your resources. If you're serving everybody and you don't have a large staff, then that says to a funder, you're just talking. So the very first thing I'm going to recommend you do on your website is to clarify your mission. Make it clear, concise. The second thing you want to do is put up data statistics. So when a funder comes to your website, you can say, we've served these amount of people since our inception. This is the impact that we've made. We've reduced teen pregnancy or we've improved senior health outcomes. Like put data on your website on your homepage so that a funder understands whether or not their funding goal is in alignment with what it is that you do. Remember, your data is what the funder is looking for to determine whether or not there's alignment and whether or not they're going to get an ROI on their investment, a return on their investment. So you don't have a funding problem, my love, you have a positioning problem, and just with that little shift in language, a funder is able to clearly see that connection. Alright, so now it's time in the episode for you to ask your question. It's called Ask Amber. This question is actually anonymous. Let's hear what anonymous question is.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Hi, Amber. Yeah, so calling for a friend. How do I, they ask a board member to step down from the board of directors.
Speaker 1 (18:14):
All right, so we understand why it is this question is anonymous. This person wants to know how do they ask a board member to step down? We didn't get much information, but I'm assuming it's because whoever this person is doesn't believe that their board member is doing what they are supposed to do, which is to support the executive director, which is to be actively engaged, bringing in resources and fundraising and listen. Boards tend to go through different iterations. Three phases. One is your inaugural board. That's usually friends and family. You didn't know when you first started your nonprofit that you actually need people who are going to fundraise. So to get the paperwork done, you ask friends, family members, and so that's what you have on your board. Those people are not seasoned. They are going to struggle with helping you to fundraise. So it's perfectly okay to ask someone to rotate off once you create structure.
(19:14):
If you are a founder and you're asking people to get off the board because they're not fundraising, but you haven't provided any board training, you haven't provide goals for them to meet, you're just saying, y'all need to fundraise. Here are the things we need fundraising for. That's not how you grow your board. That's not how you create an engaged board. An engaged board's going to be clear about what your goals and objectives are. They're going to have a funder ready budget that they're going to strategically create a fundraising plan for. If you just have a budget that's 70,000, that's a program budget. You want your board to fundraise to the organizational budget, but I digress. This person wants to know how to ask a board member how to step down. If you are functioning as the executive director, then you don't get to make that request because the executive director reports to the board.
(20:12):
Now, if you are a founder and executive director, then nine times out of 10, you recruited that board member. Yes, so you're going to talk to your president. Unless it's the president that you're trying to get to step down, that's a whole different beast. You're going to talk to your president and you're going to say, this person is not being effective. Let's move forward with trying to get them to step down. Here's what you'll do. You'll say to the person, Hey, here are the goals of the board. You're supposed to be paying your dues, or you're supposed to be attending at least two thirds of the meetings. Whatever the issue is, you point out what the issue is, right? You're not doing it. You have another 30, 60, 90 days to do it. If they don't do it, then you say, we talked to you about it.
(20:56):
Apparently you're too busy, or maybe this is not what you're interested in. So we'd like for you to step down so that we can bring somebody in who can do those things. Give them an opportunity. If they refuse, then the president can call for the vote for X, Y, and Z reasons we'd like for you to step down. If you don't, we're going to vote you out. That's pretty hostile. Nine times out of 10, if you present the person with the reason why and they're not willing to change, then they can resign. Here's the thing though, the very first thing you want to do is to check your bylaws because your bylaws really is the Bible and it says how you can remove a person. Typically, when a nonprofit is established, those bylaws are just boilerplate. So if you have not reviewed your bylaws, that's the first thing you want to do because if you come in and you say to your president, let's get them out, but your bylaw says, oh, you've got to send out a letter seven days in advance.
(21:49):
You've got to have a majority vote versus two thirds of the vote. You need to know all of those things. If you try to remove a person and it's not in alignment with your bylaws, it's going to open up a whole different can of worms. So the very first thing you want to do is to check out your bylaws to see if you have the process by which to ask your board member to step down. And if you don't like that process or that process is really on that other person's side, then you may want to consider making an amendment to those bylaws and then follow what it is that you've put in the newly established bylaws. Alright, I hope that help you and for those of you out there who are like, oh, I want to ask the question, but I want to put all my business out there.
(22:29):
We see here, you can ask your questions anonymously. So check me out on all of my socials. If you want to ask a question, you can leave your name, but you also can leave the question anonymously because I'm happy to answer those too. Alright, now we are on part three of our conversation with Jamila Webb and my nonprofit Spotlight, where I spotlight the most amazing people on the planet. My nonprofit leaders, we are in conversation with Jamila from FirstFifteen. Her role is to support Bipoc artists with developing scripts and getting them in the industry. So if you want to jump on and listen to this third part, we've got one more part in the series. Let's take a listen to Jamila Webb and my conversation with her about first 15th,
Speaker 4 (23:29):
My ace, my number one Kima Catino, who is on P Valley. We also have John Terry Gadson, who's been on the Upshaw's and a Black Lady sketch show who we've had writers from Harlem Insecure, the Walking Dead, Only Murders, the Building, Rami, the Blackening. The list goes just on and on. Name a show Seal team. We have folks who write on dramas, genre specific fantasy, horror comedies. It is just my whole thing is to introduce people to each other and now what they do with it, that's up to them. I can lead you to the water. Can't make you got to, to figure out how to drink. Okay? So I'm going to connect you to people if you decide to follow up, if you decide to form. It's about getting to know people on a human level, really getting to know people like, Hey, who are you as a human?
(24:26):
Not like, what can you do for me? But there have been people who have started writers groups from FirstFifteen who've gone on to shoot short films from FirstFifteen who brought in a short film, and then it turned into a podcast and then used the actors from FirstFifteen, like you said, use the notes that they got from the writers from FirstFifteen. So I just have been amazed and it warms my heart to see the growth that people, if they continue to keep building what I want to do, I just want to be a spark, and then people just can get that support to know like, oh yeah, I got it. I got the tools, I have the material. I just needed a little guidance. I just needed a cheerleader. And that's what has been just truly fulfilling to watch the connections and the people who have continued to collaborate and grow.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Welcome back. We're almost finished with our conversation with Jamila Webb as she's talking to us about all of the amazing work that FirstFifteen is doing in the film and television industry. It's been an exciting interview. If you want to hear all of that interview, go check it out on my YouTube channel. If not, we've got one more episode. I'd also like to invite any of you, my nonprofit leaders who are interested to join me so that I can toot toot your horn to let all of the rest of the world and potential funders know about the work that you're doing in the community. So hit me up on my socials. Let me know that you're interested. And so yeah, we're going to wrap up this episode. Thank you so much for joining me. We spoke today about you not having a funding problem, but really having a position problem.
(26:24):
I hope that that's helped some founder out there who's doing the work, who's got the receipts, but just not sure why they haven't been able to secure funding tweaking. That language should help you. And if you're not sure about how to tweak the language, this is something that we do in the Nonprofit Mastery Academy. I hold my nonprofit leaders hands all the way through from concept to the end where we're diversify your funding streams. I help you identify board members. I help you to create a funding strategy, all the things, all the things of how to run a successful, successful, and when I mean successful, I mean sustainable, where you're getting outside funding to keep your organization thriving because your community needs you. So check that out. I also put the link in my bio for the Nonprofit Mastery Academy. Also, just go visit my website because I have a lot of free resources that's designed to help nonprofits at different levels. Thank you for joining me today. If you've liked anything in this episode, be sure to share, like, subscribe, and as always, take care of yourself, like you take care of your community. We'll see you next week.
Speaker 2 (27:40):
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe and leave a review on iTunes. Head over to www.amberwynn.net/podcast for the links and resources mentioned in today's podcast. See you next time.
