All Hands on Deck: How to Build a Culture of Philanthropy That Sticks

I had the joy of spending time with the Association of Fundraising Professionals San Diego Chapter recently, talking about one of my favorite subjects: building a true culture of philanthropy inside nonprofit organizations. The conversation was so good, I had to bring it back to the TPC blog.

Here is what I know for certain: effective fundraising cannot live in one department. Not sustainably. Not if you actually want to move resources at the scale your community needs. A development team of a few people – no matter how talented, no matter how committed – cannot carry the full weight of an organization’s financial future on their own. That is not a staffing problem. That is a culture problem.

I Learned This the Hard Way – on Five Continents

My first real education in building a culture of philanthropy did not happen inside a nonprofit. It happened inside a corporation.

Earlier in my career, I had the extraordinary opportunity to manage fundraising and grantmaking for a corporate foundation – one I will keep unnamed, but the scale was intimidating. I was charged with building a giving culture across 4,000 employees and over one million direct sellers, working across five continents, in multiple languages, with colleagues who held vastly different beliefs about money, philanthropy, and whether it was even appropriate to talk about giving at work.

On paper, it was a dream assignment. In practice? I made a lot of really embarrassing mistakes.

I assumed that because leadership had signed off, everyone was on board. They were not. I used an American nonprofit language that – when translated into 20+ languages – made little to no sense. I rolled out programs without asking people what they needed. I moved fast when I should have listened first. I was so focused on building the program that I forgot to build the relationships that would ultimately create our culture.

I have carried those lessons back into the nonprofit sector ever since. And what I know now is this: the fundamentals of building a giving culture are remarkably consistent across every industry and every organizational size. The context changes. The principles do not.

People Have to Feel Seen, Heard, and Appreciated – Full Stop

I don’t care what sector you work in or how urgent your fundraising goals feel right now. If the people around you don’t feel seen, heard, and genuinely appreciated, you cannot build a culture of philanthropy. Period.

I skipped this step in my corporate foundation days. I was so excited about the mission that I dove straight into programming without taking the time to understand what motivated my colleagues in Jakarta or Rome or Mexico City, or asking about the giving traditions already alive in their communities. I came in with answers before I had asked nearly enough questions. (The arrogance of my youth still fills me with ick!)

In the nonprofit sector, this shows up differently but the damage is the same. When program staff feel like fundraising is a distraction from their work — or worse, a burden they never signed up for — they disengage. Disengaged staff do not become mission champions. They become quiet resisters and resentful colleagues. Nobody wants that.

The antidote is simple, even when it is not easy: invest in people before you ask anything of them. Learn what they care about. Celebrate what they contribute. Make them feel like essential members of something meaningful — because they are. 

An example of what this looks like in practice: In my first Chief Development Officer role, my predecessor had only been in place for 16 months and had a less than stellar reputation with the Programs team. I spent a lot of time building trust with those staff members – months of making time to volunteer for their programs and be a value-add to their work – before I asked them to engage in fundraising.

Connect the Dots – Or No One Will

I hear this all the time: “Fundraising is not in everyone’s job description, so I don’t want to make people uncomfortable.” I understand the instinct – and I push back on it anyway.

An all-hands-on-deck culture of philanthropy does not mean asking your accountant to make major gift calls. It means helping every person in your organization understand the ecosystem they are part of and how resource development makes their work possible.

The case manager who works with families every day? She has stories that could move a donor to tears – while uplifting the dignity of those you serve. The receptionist who answers the phones? They are often the first voice a prospective donor hears, a key ambassador with real influence on relationship-building. Nobody is outside the ecosystem.

But if you don’t connect those dots explicitly – out loud, in staff meetings, during onboarding, in casual conversation over snacks in the breakroom – people will not connect them on their own. And your development team will keep wondering why they feel so alone.

Try this: at your next all-staff meeting, spend ten minutes showing your whole team how last year’s fundraising investments translated directly into the work they do every day. Celebrate the wins. Give recognition to people outside the development department who made fundraising magic happen. Make it concrete. Make it personal. Watch what happens in the room.

Leadership Has to Go First – Every Time

Allow me to be direct: you cannot build a culture of philanthropy from the middle of an organization. It has to be modeled from the top. I am talking about your executive team and your board of directors.

At the corporate foundation, the single biggest predictor of whether a regional team engaged with our philanthropic initiatives was whether their regional leader was personally engaged – not just supportive in email, but actually showing up, making their own commitment visible, and celebrating the impact their team was having. The difference was night and day.

The nonprofit sector is no different. If your Executive Director is not personally making a financial investment in the organization – at whatever level is meaningful to them – that sends a message. If your board members are not showing up, not making introductions, not giving their own gifts, that sends a message too. Culture is not built through memos and mission statements. It is built through behavior. And the behavior of the people with the most perceived power carries enormous weight.

You cannot ask your team to do something your leadership is not willing to do first. Full stop.

Culture Is Not a Program. It Is a Practice.

You cannot declare culture into existence or roll it out in a staff retreat and check it off your list. It has to be tended to, consistently, over time – in the decisions you make, the stories you tell, the people you celebrate, and the behaviors you encourage.

The organizations that do this will talk about fundraising like it belongs to everyone – because it does. They celebrate community building, not just dollar amounts. They make people feel like participants in something meaningful. And their leaders go first, every single time.

Building this kind of culture is some of the most important – and honestly, some of the most joyful – work I get to do. Because when it clicks, the shift is powerful. People stop feeling like bystanders to fundraising and owning their role in it. The program manager who realizes her experience and storytelling makes people feel connected to the mission. The board member who dreaded donor conversations starts making introductions with confidence and enthusiasm. The executive director who felt like they were carrying the full fundraising burden finally feels like the whole team has their back. That is what empowerment looks like in culture. And once people feel it, there is no going back.

Hannah 🧡

ThePhilanthropyCoach.com