Do you need to raise funds for your nonprofit? We suggest starting with building a volunteer fundraising team. This means embracing those who support the organization or institution you lead and asking them to extend themselves by asking those they know to support the nonprofit’s work. This turns your fundraising on its head. Yes, you will still need staff for aspects of fundraising such as grant writing and reporting, data management, and now, importantly, volunteer engagement. And the CEO and development team (board and staff) will increase their focus on supporting, engaging, and empowering volunteers. They will be sharing tools, suggestions, information, and ideas. They will be listening to what volunteers are saying and who they are identifying as ideal donors and supporters. They will be busy asking questions such as “Who do we know who believes in our work and may be willing to help us?” and “What do you need from me in order for you to feel comfortable talking with so-and-so about our work and impact?”
With volunteer-led fundraising the work of staff is to identify, cultivate, and support volunteers who can ask their peers – and others – to support an organization they are a part of, believe in, and are financially supporting. Some people debate the idea of volunteer-led fundraising, saying it is “easier for me to just go out and raise money than to deal with volunteers.” That thinking belies what we call a “bad attitude.” Yes, it takes time and energy to engage and support volunteers, but it also takes time and energy to engage and support donors. When you engage those who believe in your organization or institution, you are gaining expertise, building a team, strengthening relationships with those who already support “your” organization, and those who are loyal to the organization despite changes in leadership or staff. You are, importantly, multiplying what you can do by the number of active fundraising volunteers you are supporting.
Fundraising professionals are skilled professionals who add great value to individual nonprofits and the nonprofit sector as a whole. Volunteers – when working with fundraising professionals or a talented CEO – add a different value and are perceived differently. Specifically: they are not being paid to raise money. They are fundraising because they believe in the organization, identify with it, and want it to succeed. That’s not to say that fundraising professionals lack these qualities: they share them. But they are being paid for their skills and that creates the difference in perception, who they can talk with, and how they talk with current and potential donors. Volunteers bring a defined following, meaning they have personal, business, and political relationships and history with people you may never have heard of. Ideally, they can talk with and influence the “powers that be” in your community.
Volunteers will call on you to do your best. They will require you to be open, honest, transparent, and responsive. They will open doors and build bridges that you cannot. Fundraising volunteers are your super-power. Your job is to manage and support their work.
© 2026 Mel and Pearl Shaw, authors of “Prerequisites for Fundraising Success.” We provide fundraising counsel to higher education, nonprofits, and philanthropy. Video conferencing always available. Visit www.saadandshaw.com.
