The Work Between the Wins – It's Not Always Glitz and Glamour

Fundraising is an amazing role. Fundraisers sit at the intersection of mission and meaning, helping causes grow and helping donors connect to what matters to them. Many of us are energized by the wins, the highs that come with a relationship breakthrough, an unexpected yes or an impactful gift that moves the mission forward in a meaningful way.

Those are real and powerful moments.

Still, the reality of the job – and if we’re honest, a majority of the job – is a little more grounded. Most fundraising lives in the in-between.

There are the have-to’s of our roles, including organizational trainings, internal meetings, and the administrative side of good donor management. That might look like logging donor interactions in your CRM, coordinating with program leaders, or simply sending thank you notes. You know the work. It’s the behind-the scenes work that has to get done, even when it is not the most exciting part of our day.

Recently, I was talking with a major gift officer who is new to her organization. She arrived in the fall and quickly built strong connections with her caseload. Meetings went well. Conversations were meaningful. Then she moved straight into year-end. Donors responded with gifts, and when she followed up with thank-you calls, the energy was high.

Then the winter months of January to March arrived.

The year-end momentum slowed. Calls were still being made, but fewer were answered. Instead of coffees and conversations, her days were filled with logging calls, following up with donors who had been harder to reach, and connecting internally with program teams. For an extrovert who had just experienced a season of quick wins, it felt like a sharp shift.

She said, half joking, “So it’s not all glitz and glamour?” It was a fair question.

Because this is the part we don’t always talk about. The foundational work isn’t separate from the wins. It’s what makes the wins possible.

At this same organization is another fundraiser who was experiencing something similar – a slow season of responses. She happens to also teach yoga; she shared an idea that is relatable and that has stayed with me: “I am responsible for the work. I am not responsible for the outcome.”

In yoga, that means you show up, follow the practice, and do the work in front of you. You cannot control how your body responds that day. Two people practicing yoga will experience different results and plateaus.

Fundraising works the same way. We can own the work. We can make the calls, send the follow-ups, share impact, and enter the notes. We can stay consistent and thoughtfully show up for donors. What we cannot control is whether a donor picks up the phone; we can’t always know the donor’s life circumstances. We can’t control their giving choices, or determine when they’ll make a gift. Of course we can try to thoughtfully do so through the relationships we build, but at the end of the day, the donor controls those decisions.

Fundraising isn’t always easy, and it’s not always as fun as a relational or financial win. But it’s important. In many ways, it is the work.

If you are in a quieter season right now, don’t second-guess it. This is your moment to lean into the fundamentals. Choose to do the work. Make the calls. Send the impact information. Log the attempts. Then do it again next week.

That is how momentum builds. The glitz and glamour will come.