As part of our Building Winning Teams series, Blair Search Partners CEO, Trevor Blair, went live on LinkedIn to chat with the experienced and charismatic nonprofit leader Tamika Franklin, CFRE.
Tamika is UC Berkeley’s Senior Director of Southern California Major Gifts and also a long time fundraiser and veteran of building high performing teams.
With over 20 years of development and advancement experience for nonprofit organizations largely in the higher education and university advancement setting, she has ample experience building fundraising teams big and small within complex organizational structures.
Meet Tamika
Tamika ended up in higher education fundraising as a career because she, like many others, was a scholarship student in college. During her college years, she spent time working the phones and fundraising. This helped her understand what it takes to connect with the alumni who made it possible for her to see her passions through.
Now, she feels lucky to work in her role to pay it forward and unlock that opportunity for others.
Tamika is so much more than a fundraiser, though. As a classically trained pianist and proud Jamaican, she shared what it takes to build a successful fundraising team, such as the importance of adaptability, valuing diverse skill sets, and collaboration in navigating a nonprofit philanthropy career.
The Signs of a Good Development Professional
When asked what qualities, skills, and attributes she looks for in a good development professional, Tamika says, “You can’t train people to be enthusiastic.”
In the world of fundraising, it’s rare that two days ever look the same. It’s important at all levels – seasoned professional or beginner – that a person be nimble and willing to adjust as expectations of them and their team members shift throughout the day. Finding people who are eager to jump in and learn a new skill or fine tune their skills is essential to building an effective team.
Secondly, she looks for people willing to challenge the status quo.
“I don’t believe in group think. I don’t come into situations believing that just because I have seniority that I’m the only one who can move things forward. The best idea wins, always.”
By fostering an environment where people can come in, speak up, and share their ideas freely, you create a container for your top thinkers to bring unbridled creativity, passion, and fresh ideas to your team on a regular basis.
In the fundraising world, professionals need to be true team players. The people in the spotlight when you work in development are the philanthropists, not the people behind the scenes who make it possible. And that’s how it should be! A successful development professional needs to be in it for the greater good of the mission and organization – a true team player.
Hiring the Right People
In order to hire candidates who fit the description above, especially in a larger and more complex organizational ecosystem, Tamika personalizes the hiring process to parse out people that have these essential qualities.
After the university’s initial implicit bias screenings and standardized initial processes, Tamika customizes her interview process to highlight skills she’s looking for.
For example, she will offer scenarios and situations in an interview setting that allow a candidate to show their curiosity, engagement style, collaboration, flexibility, and capacity for trust building – key elements she looks for in building her dream team. She finds opportunities to see how candidates adjust on the fly, build relationships, and ask meaningful questions in an unscripted environment.
By creating opportunities for a candidate to show you the qualities you are looking for in an interview setting, you’re better able to gather information about how they’ll interact in real life when communicating with philanthropists and fellow staff members.
Going through a multi-step and intentional process like this one may take extra work and additional time, but it pays dividends in the long run with an effective, cohesive, and diverse team of fundraisers.
Getting very clear on what you’re looking for and then crafting opportunities for candidates to display those skills and abilities during the interview process will help you build your fundraising dream team skillfully and intentionally.
Is Prior Experience in the Field Necessary?
An important question in this process, as is true for many fields, is whether or not a candidate needs to have extensive prior experience in the field of the job they are applying for. Tamika says, not necessarily.
There are countless fields that require similar skills of curiosity, relationship building, customer service, data analysis, humility, and collaboration that are great fits in the world of philanthropy. As long as an understanding of the mission and vision is there along with an eagerness to learn, grow, and pivot, then welcoming candidates with outside skills and perspectives can have many benefits.
Which fields translate well into fundraising?
Tamika shares that, in her experience, candidates with backgrounds in sales, marketing, hospitality, and academics often have many similar and transferable skills to fundraising, making them exceptional candidates.
“The beauty of fundraising is that it takes all sorts of perspectives. You just have to find a way to tell your story to get in the door, and be willing to learn,” she says.
Building a team with a diversity of perspectives and skill sets means you are well rounded and ready for anything. You need people who see the micro perspective and the macro perspective, people who are good at events, people with exceptional customer service, and the list goes on.
All kinds of people are capable of fundraising, so in order to build a well rounded team that checks all of the boxes, it’s important not to limit your candidate search by only paying attention to people from within the industry.
Paving the Way for the Future of Philanthropy
Finally, Tamika and Trevor discussed succession planning for Board of Directors and fundraising professionals and how to position your fundraising for different generations of donors.
In the changing landscape of philanthropy, especially when looking through a multigenerational lens, it’s important for an organization’s fundraising strategies and systems, processes, and culture to be that of flexibility and adaptability.
The way to successfully appeal to new generations of philanthropists, fundraising professionals, and volunteer board members is by being willing to change and adjust as the landscape changes and adjusts.
For example, while appealing to nostalgia has historically been an effective strategy to garner volunteer and financial support for older generations, younger generations of philanthropists are more interested in values based perspectives. Answering the question “why does this even matter?”
Pivoting to speak to new generations of donors means telling stories of change rooted in values and “why,” and offering various ways of connecting such as volunteering or connecting with their network, rather than just financial gifts.
Having in place strong and healthy systems that allow you to adjust and not only welcome fresh ideas, but move people in and out of positions so that differing perspectives cycle through on a regular basis will do wonders for your fundraising success long term and across multiple generations of donors.
What’s Next
We’re so grateful to Tamika for taking the time to share her deep insight with us, and we look forward to seeing her around San Diego at future fundraising related events!
Join us on Monday, August 5th at 2:00 PM for Leadership In Action: The Role of a Strong Board of Directors with Tim Ducker.
Until then, you can visit us at the Blair Search Partners website, or contact us if you’re interested in working together.