Creating a framework for advocacy and support

Sadly, many ‘shooting stars’ with incredible promise crash and burn. The elephant in the room — and, arguably, one of the biggest challenges of institutional philanthropy — is volunteer fatigue. Years of strategising with non-profits and social enterprise has revealed to me that organisations have a debilitating obsession with communicating a cause’s ‘why’ (that is, its reason for existence and why you should support it) and ‘what’ (the specific issue being framed that needs solving and what is expected of donors, volunteers, and so on). These are all attempts to differentiate the organisation and to influence people in a vast ocean of charities all vying for donor attention and support.

Of course, the ‘why’ of an enterprise — its higher-order purpose — is a beacon for change that incites action. And without purpose, sustaining engagement and growth is virtually impossible. However, my point is that when so much emphasis is placed on the emotional aspects that ‘draw you in’, the essential systems and resources that sustain an enterprise — its ‘how’, or its processes for actually creating change — are often ad hoc or non-existent.

The impact of this lack of a replicable framework for advocacy and engagement is that a few people often end up doing all of the work in the enterprise, leading to burnout and disillusionment.

But it’s not all doom and gloom ... Fortunately, organisations can learn to leverage the power of diffusion and movements to catalyse their growth and impact. It presents organisations with viable means to revitalise the dying philanthropic model and donor advocacy, and, ultimately, sustain change.