The Bill Gates Syndrome
Friday, October 23, 2009
By: Lilya Wagner

This is the latest installment in our series, Fundraising Nightmares and How to Wake up From Them.

One Sunday morning Alex sat sipping his coffee and instead of focusing on the paper, or picking up his text message, or even mindlessly watching the TV news, he stared absentmindedly beyond all three means of communication.  His mind was churning.  He had been troubled all weekend.  On Friday, as a parting shot accompanied by a lukewarm “Have a good weekend,” his boss had said, “Alex, you know we badly need to recover in this economic crisis and it’s up to you to get us over the hump.  Can’t you get some of that stimulus package money, or better yet, just go to the Worthwhile Foundation?  They have plenty of money, I hear.  Anyhow, DO SOMETHING!”  And then the boss uttered the weak wish for a salubrious weekend.

Have a good weekend!  Whom was he kidding?!  It wasn’t so much the “go to the Worthwhile Foundation” that bothered Alex but what lay behind it.  Alex was no slouch.  He had done his homework and knew that the arts organization for which he worked, Vibes for Violinists, was not on their priority list.  What really irked and worried Alex were phrases that kept ringing and singing through his head, like a bad commercial tune that hummed inside him incessantly.

            “It’s up to you . . .”

            “We’re in a crisis — get us over the hump.”

            “Stimulus package money.”

            “The Worthwhile Foundation — they have plenty of money.”

            “DO SOMETHING!”

After thinking rather evil thoughts about his boss, especially on a Sunday morning, Alex began to move beyond worry and on to fuming.  Did his boss think that he, Alex, wasn’t doing a good job?  How could he say something as dumb as “it’s up to you?!”  What had gotten them into this mess in the first place?  For beginners, a lack of interest and therefore involvement by his boss, who should have been part of the fundraising effort and team.  Second, the lack of financial acumen to see that a contingency fund of some sort should have been in place.  Alex was no financial whiz but even he knew that living in the “hand to mouth” state was risky.  Third, shouldn’t this be an organizational effort, with both the president and CFO and others involved?  It wasn’t just up to him!  Finally, what bothered him most was that after two years and eight months and three weeks of employment, he still hadn’t succeeded in educating his so-called team.  What was it going to take to show his boss, at least, that it took time to build up a solid fundraising base, that just because people had money didn’t mean they had arts interests, and that sustainability was the key word, not emergency funding, which didn’t appeal to most donors.

Now quite thoroughly angry and depressed, he took a sip of his cold coffee and dashed to the sink to spit it out.  What to do?!  Both by Monday and for the long term?  Should he consider a job change before things got worse?  Fortunately for him, he remembered that the local AFP chapter had built up quite a good mentoring system and even though he didn’t have one, he could think of several senior professionals whom he could call, even on a weekend.  Better yet, he remembered his last day of the five day Principles and Techniques of Fundraising course which he took from The Fund Raising School.  He had filled in a form on what he would do that next week, the next three months and then the next six months and had exchanged it with his favorite fellow participant.  Alex dashed to get his big red binder, the curriculum for that course, and where he had jotted down Merilin’s phone number.  He would call her, and risk calling her on a Sunday!

Merilin was home, to his good fortune, especially since it was an unearthly hour for her (being in a different time zone) and Alex blurted out his dilemma, tripping over his words because of frustration.  “Whoa,” responded Merilin,  “slow down!  Don’t tell me you’ve been blindsided by the ‘just ask Bill Gates’ syndrome?!  My sincere sympathies to you!  I lived in Indianapolis where the same thing happened.  ‘Just go to the Lilly Endowment, they have lots of money,’  was what I heard repeatedly.”  She sighed and paused. 

Alex repeated, “The Bill Gates syndrome, huh?!  How true!  I’m relieved you understand.  But what can I do?  I have to present some sort of plan on Monday.”

“Well, I hate to ruin your Sunday, but try these action steps,” Merilin replied.  Together they brainstormed for the next hour.  Alex breathed his fervent thanks and they made plans to meet at the next AFP convention, since Merilin lived two time zones away.  Alex turned to his computer and began to draft a mini-plan on how to extricate himself from this dilemma.

First, he wrote, ask for a meeting with the president and CFO, explaining that in order to make a good request and to avoid embarrassing the organization (never mind himself, but he wasn’t going to mention that) he needed to know more facts.  Could they please discuss the financial situation with him so that he could ask wisely? 

Second, he would print out the website pages of the Worthwhile Foundation as well as the stimulus package information and show them that funding wasn’t available, but then quickly move on to his real plan, which was a three-step approach to raising some contingency money.  He had a loyal donor who had said, after his last pledge payment, “I like what you’re doing, so let me know when you need help.”  Alex would have felt better if the donor had said, “I like what Vibes for Violinists is doing,” but he wouldn’t worry about that now.  Then he would ask Mr. Salvador to introduce him to some other corporate prospects.   Then he would approach those donors for a matching grant.

Third, he planned to say in a very tactful manner, “My professional mentors,” and he would name some recognizable persons, “have indicated that now is a time to begin building sustainability, if an organization is still alive in this bad economic time.  I’d like to show you a one-page outline of how WE can do this.”  And he would have ready some of the steps he had already been trying to take, but perhaps would now have at least a half-listening ear.

Alex went to refresh his cup of coffee.  He sipped the hot beverage and mulled over his plan.  It just could work.  Then, after his meeting, he would weigh his options.  First, he would once again plan on how to get the organization and especially the president to work with him, and failing that, he would resign.  And he would do so while he could show a good track record and be a desirable candidate.  If he waited too long, he would be part of the downhill slide of Vibes for Violinists.

And what if the president said he couldn’t meet, that it really was up to him, Alex, to DO SOMETHING?!  Well, he could always say, “As you requested, I’m doing something and so that you can put my plan into your overall administrative duties and know what’s going on, I’d like to show you what I am carrying out, which is, mainly, your request.”  And if that didn’t work, there might be an ethical way to share his plan with his development committee chair, without divulging those irritating words,  “It’s up to you to DO SOMETHING and get us over the hump.”  After all, it had been a Friday afternoon and a gloomy one at that.  Perhaps on Monday reason would prevail.  He sighed; a mixed sigh, both of mild relief because he now had a plan at least, and a contented sigh because after all, it was a Sunday, the sun was shining, he had done so much hard thinking and planning, so he deserved a round of golf!

About the Author

Dr. Lilya Wagner, CFRE, is an experienced fundraiser, consultant, editor and author, teacher and trainer. She can be reached at coplilya@cs.co