By Hannah Bernstein, Recruiter & Director of Staff Funding, REI HQ
In addition to my recruiting responsibilities, I recently became REI’s Director of Staff Funding. Surprisingly, these positions flow seamlessly together.
During the recruiting process, there are many barriers that must be addressed before individuals apply for a position. One of the most common barriers is personal fundraising.
First of all, what is “personal fundraising?” REI requires field staff to fundraise in order to cover their full budget, including their salaries. This is a key aspect of REI’s overall fundraising strategy, which also includes corporate fundraising to cover the corporate costs for our nonprofit.
Typically, new staff members have little to no experience with fundraising. In my role, two of my main duties are conducting training before the fundraising campaign begins and providing coaching during the campaign.
Before the fundraising campaign begins, it’s essential to develop the proper mindset and attitude. Each staff member spends up to two months preparing their thinking and strategy about fundraising. This ensures a strong start to the fundraising campaign after the New Staff Orientation (NSO).
After the NSO, our staff members are launched into a three to six-month campaign to raise their funds and develop a team of financial partners. This time frame may seem short, but our staff work full-time hours to make it happen. Because of the difficulties the fundraising campaign brings, I help keep staff on track to meet their goals. It’s a privilege to work alongside staff members as they build a team of partners around them. I check in with each staff member weekly and conduct a cohort meeting every two weeks for staff to be encouraged by one another.
These times serve as opportunities to share about how they are growing individually and ways they may be struggling. It’s vital for the success of any staff member to be supported and encouraged throughout their fundraising campaign. Frankly, they might not complete the task otherwise.
Once staff have completed their fundraising campaign, they participate in additional training and then can be sent to their destination. It’s important our staff understand that once their partnership team is built, it must be maintained. This is what we call partner care. Just as our staff care for locals in their countries, they must also care for their donors back home. The donors are, in fact, the ones who allow them to be there. Staff must maintain a high level of transparency and communication with their partners. Ultimately, their partners want to know if their financial investment is worth it. Is the staff member doing what they said they would do?
Our staff work diligently to accomplish their goals, many of them on the field for a decade or longer. Development work is a challenging and slow process, but over the years REI has seen significant transformation around the world because of our staff members, but equally because of each donor financially and personally invested in the lives of our staff members.
Fundraising is a challenge to most, but there are great rewards throughout the process. By rewards, I mean not the donations themselves, but rather the opportunity for staff to share their vision and to develop a community focused on supporting the vision in various ways.
You may be thinking at this point, why does REI use a personal fundraising strategy this way? REI recognizes the significant support it creates for staff members who have a personal team of financial partners – people who are personally invested in the work they are doing in their host country. This team of personal investors becomes the avenue to sustain the field staff’s overseas work.
Additionally, REI desires to see more individuals united with our vision, which is, people of emerging nations filled with hope as their countries are developed and lives transformed. By intentionally inviting others to give financially to this greater vision, each staff member gets to show their donors how they contribute to something bigger than themselves.
I’m honored to guide our new staff members through this fundraising process and help equip them to engage thousands of others in the meaningful work REI is accomplishing around the world. If you are already personally partnered with one of our staff, thank you. You are making a difference – not only in our staff members’ lives but also in the lives of nationals where they work.
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