Soapbox Engage Blog

"Soft skills" are a hot topic of discussion in recent years, especially in the business world. Many companies are beginning to prioritize hiring candidates with these interpersonal attributes because it’s easy to teach someone how to do a task. It’s much harder to teach people communication, problem-solving, and relational skills. Nonprofits are no exception.

"Soft skills" are the unquantifiable abilities that help you build healthy relationships, communicate effectively, and make you an excellent fundraiser. Lacking these attributes could cause you to miss or misunderstand important things in conversations with current and potential donors (and your staff).

Because so much fundraising happens online now (via websites, social media, and the telephone), it’s easy to assume that these soft skills are less valuable. On the contrary, they’re actually more important because every interaction carries more weight. We rounded up three soft skills every development professional should cultivate to boost your online fundraising.

Most important soft skills for fundraisers

1. Written communication
2. Verbal communication
3. Knowing when to multitask

Soft Skills vs. Hard Skills

"Hard skills’ are directly related to the job. For example, a computer programmer needs to know how to write code. A plumber needs to know how to fix a leak or install pipes. A development professional can develop the skills required to write a grant proposal. Every job requires hard skills.

Soft skills, on the other hand, are the intangible things that enable you to succeed in your job. Everyone needs to be able to communicate with people, work on a team, read nonverbal communication, and a host of other soft skills.

Many fundraisers find it challenging to gain or develop soft skills in today’s fast-paced digital environment. These skills are not often taught, especially in conjunction with the hard skills of fundraising. (The same is true in many other jobs and industries). People often focus on one set of skills or the other.

Nonprofits And Fundraisers Should Learn Soft Skills

Soft skills can be taught (and learned)! This type of training improves productivity in any kind of business or organization--even in a factory setting! One study revealed that soft-skills training in five Bangalorian factories boosted productivity, allowed for a faster turnaround on complex tasks, and even improved employee attendance.

Google is embracing the value of soft skills, too! They studied a variety of their working teams and discovered that its most innovative and productive teams were made up of interdisciplinary groups of employees who have well-developed soft skills.

If improving soft skills has that much of an impact on factories and Google, imagine how much more valuable these skills are in the fundraising and nonprofit world!

Think of it like a doctor’s bedside manner. Of course, you want a doctor who can diagnose illnesses and create effective treatment plans. People also need a doctor who can connect with their patients to gather critical information and communicate clearly. Doctors need the right balance of soft, "bedside manner" skills and hard medical skills. A deficit in either category can dramatically impact the outcome. The same is true with fundraising.

Enhancing your soft skills can make a significant impact on your fundraising success and your career in the nonprofit world. The most successful fund developers cultivate a hybrid of soft and hard skills and always look for opportunities to learn and grow.

3 Soft Skills Every Nonprofit Fundraiser Should Cultivate

Because so much fundraising now takes place online and over the phone, this blog focuses on soft skills related to these types of interaction. These skills also translate to in-person interaction and will help improve your fundraising at every level.

Written communication

Have you ever been in a position where you said or wrote something to someone, and they misunderstood or took it the wrong way? Sometimes it’s funny, but poor communication can have disastrous results.

Your written word is part of your organization’s brand. It’s critical to have excellent written communication skills.

Development professionals should continually be improving their communication skills because the most essential part of fundraising is actually communicating effectively. Fundraisers need to interact with volunteers, current and potential donors, directors, coworkers, and many other people.

Online fundraising primarily requires excellent written communication skills. We aren’t just talking about having proper spelling and grammar (though that’s part of it). Poor writing makes it hard to communicate ideas and information. It’s also distracting, reflects poorly on the organization, and can lead to distrust.

Think of all the places you have written content. Advertising, blogs, newsletters, emails, social media posts, texts, and instant messages. The list goes on. It’s critical to have excellent written communication skills, so your audience will understand what they read and respond appropriately.

Learning to write also improves your verbal communication skills, so it’s a win-win investment.

Ways you can improve your written communication skills to strengthen fundraising:

• Be straightforward: Many people are bombarded with reports, emails, memos, texts, and all sorts of written communication every single day. Be clear and concise with your written communication (without being rudely brief… it’s a balancing act).
• Be professional: It’s easy to blur the lines between professional and "friendly" writing, especially when you’re writing social media posts or texts, where the expectations and rules tend to be more fluid. When in doubt, always err on the side of being a little too professional, especially when interacting with donors. It’s a way to show respect and present your organization in a positive light.
• Take a writing class: If you aren’t comfortable with writing or you want to improve your writing skills, sign up for a writing class! You’ll probably be surprised how helpful writing classes are, especially compared to middle school grammar class. Depending on the type of organization you’re in, it might make sense to take a course that focuses on writing stories and one that emphasizes business writing. Both are valuable skills for development professionals. There are also writ’s workshops that focus exclusively on helping fundraisers improve their writing skills.

Verbal communication

This soft skill has a variety of applications. The internet allows you to attract and cultivate donors all over the world. The closest you might get to some of your supporters is through a phone call or video conference call, which is an excellent way to have a personal touchpoint. Plus, calling donors to thank them for their contribution within 24-hours can result in a 39% increase in donations in the next fundraising campaign! So, it’s well worth the effort to brush up on your verbal communication skills.

Whether you’re on the phone with a donor or chatting with your coworker, you should be kind, thoughtful, and respectful. Use a friendly tone and always think before you speak. When in doubt, talk as if your boss is always listening to the conversation. Friendliness, politeness, manners, and respect go a long way to improve communication, create rapport, and even avoid conflict.

Ask people how they are doing and listen to their responses. This can go a long way to build trust and defuse potential conflict. Courtesy, diplomacy, empathy, open-mindedness, and basic social skills are all part of good verbal communication.

Especially when speaking to donors on the phone, it’s critical to listen more than you talk. Most of us enter conversations with an agenda and a low attention span. You’ll build much better relationships and have far greater success in fundraising if you learn to actively listen. One of the most essential skills necessary to thrive in any area of life is to be a good listener.

The challenge with phone conversations is that you can’t read people’s body language. Pay attention to people’s tone, voice, and the words people choose. If you’re using video conference technology, pay attention to people’s facial expressions as you interact. If you want a direct response, you’ll need to be candid with your language.

At the end of a conversation with a donor, recap what you discussed (either verbally or in writing) to make sure everyone is on the same page. This is excellent organizational and communication skills, and it dramatically reduces the risk of misunderstanding or people not understanding the next steps.

Ways you can improve your verbal communication skills to strengthen fundraising:

• Role-play conversations: We get it, role-playing is awkward, and few people enjoy the experience. But, it’s an excellent learning tool, especially for soft skills like verbal communication that requires practice and honest feedback. Have your staff role-play phone and in-person conversations. Encourage everyone to give constructive criticism. It can be helpful to provide a script if you are coaching staff to make funding asks via the phone.
• Record your phone conversations to learn from your mistakes: Depending on where you live, laws and regulations may prohibit this. However, it can be a great learning tool to record your phone conversations and replay them. Listen to yourself from the donor’s perspective and identify specific things you would do differently. If you have a larger team of fundraisers who have frequent conversations, consider investing in a call recording service to help improve everyone’s verbal communication skills.

Knowing when to multitask

Effective fundraisers know when to multitask and when to "single-task" to improve productivity and quality of their work. It’s a soft skill that’s increasingly difficult to cultivate in our digital culture, where it feels like every email demands an immediate answer and every text requires our instant attention.

We’ve all heard that multitasking is bad because it means we aren’t giving anything our full attention. But, there are very few jobs that don’t require at least a little multitasking of some kind. Fundraising requires balancing a host of tasks demanding time and energy. Even if you don’t think you do it often, you probably multitask more than you think.

The true definition of multitasking has nothing to do with watching Netflix while filling out the rest of that report. (That kind of multitasking is usually not ideal.) Multitasking involves being aware of a variety of work activities and being able to shift from one task to another quickly.

Fundraising often feels like a constant stream of emails, texts, phone calls, in-person meetings, social media messages, letters, piles of paperwork, and a host of other demands. It requires intense concentration on complicated tasks and frequent interaction with a host of people. This can be very challenging for some people! Learning when and how to switch tasks will improve the quantity and quality of your work.

Excellent fundraisers can shift their focus from one task to the next without much of a break in productivity, prioritize tasks, and tackle the most critical items on the list first.

You also need to know when multitasking is a bad idea. For example, you should not be answering texts or filling out paperwork while you’re on the phone with a donor. But it’s essential to be able to supervise work on three different fundraising campaigns that are at various stages.

The most effective multitaskers actually make a habit of focusing on one task at a time in set time blocks. This helps prevent excessive task switching and allows you to batch your tasks to avoid unnecessary multitasking. For example, you might decide to process all the new donations and send acknowledgments on Mondays. Then, you might write all the thank-you notes on Tuesday mornings.

Ways you can improve your multitasking skills to improve fundraising:

• Batch your tasks: Do you have a set day or time when you and your team handle all the donation reports, send thank-you notes, or write your email updates? Batching all the tasks into one block allows you to concentrate better, get in a rhythm, and be more productive. It also helps ensure that nothing slips through the cracks.
• Create to-do lists: Start each day or week with a to-do list. Keep a running task list for each fundraising program you’re running. Writing down what you need to do helps you stay on top of everything and alleviates any fears of "forgetting something." Overall, organized to-do lists free your brain to concentrate on the tasks at hand, instead of trying to keep track of all the other things you need to get done.
• Use a time-management or productivity app: If you don’t want to use paper notes and lists, consider using an app that will help you manage multiple to-do lists for the pile of projects, phone schedules, and meetings.
• Work in time blocks: Set your timer for 20 or 30 minutes and focus on one task for that amount of time. Work hard to eliminate distractions (including your phone) during that block of time. Then, give yourself a 5 or 10-minute break before either resuming work or moving on to the next task. This will help you "single-task" while giving yourself short breaks and opportunities to check on other things like texts and emails.

There are many other soft skills that development professionals should cultivate. These three will dramatically improve your online and phone fundraising efforts. Don’t be afraid to experiment and learn what fits your personality and work preferences. Even if you’re pretty sure you love your old-fashioned paper to-do lists, go ahead and try an organization app for a week and see what happens!

Here are three more resources to help you take your fundraising to the next level.

• Surprising Fundraising Email Subject Line Tips That Increase Open Rates: One of the easiest ways to improve your email open rates is to write great subject lines! Here are some tips, tricks, and industry best practices that will help you write subject lines that will stand out in a crowded inbox.
• Finding the Perfect Grant for Your Nonprofit: It can feel daunting to sift through the thousands of grants to find the right one for your organization. This blog is full of resources and services to help you identify and apply for grants.
• 5 Easy Ways To Maximize Your Fundraising On Facebook: Social media plays a central role in our digital culture, and it’s transforming the way people and nonprofits network and fundraise. Here are some practical ways any organization can use Facebook to increase their fundraising.

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