Subtraction Fundraising for Nonprofits

Nonprofit GrowthDevelopment
Written By Sherry Quam Taylor
Image of a student doing math problems at a desk, representing that the most successful nonprofit fundraisers aren't doing more things--they're subtracting.

Executive Director: “We need to raise more money.”

Fundraisers: “We’re already DOING ALL THE THINGS. We couldn’t possibly add more to our plates.”

Leader - If you’ve heard this statement from your development team, you have two choices to make moving forward:

1. Keep your team on the same path:

❌Applying for more grants
❌Squeaking a bit more out of every event
❌Raising the goal on that appeal by 10% each year
❌Mailing out sponsorship packages to your vendors

2. Or move your team into Subtraction Fundraising:

🟢Removing the activities that are draining your team’s energy

🟢Stopping transactional traditions that are stealing their hours

🟢Recouping those hours for real relationship-building

🟢Equipping your team to lead investment-level conversations and land larger gen-ops gifts

This takes discipline to remove what doesn't work. Subtraction takes objectivity.

Most people think raising more money means adding more hours or adding more staff, etc. 

This is rarely the case.

The most successful fundraisers aren't doing more things. They're subtracting.

Ready to subtract and grow? I can help you with that. Apply to work with me here.

Whenever you’re ready to remove what doesn’t work in nonprofit fundraising, there are THREE things you can do next:

👣 Follow me on LinkedIn where I share insider fundraising info daily — the same lessons I teach my clients through my consultancy about securing larger major gifts and diversifying revenue.

🍎 Get Resources + White Papers — download robust resources you can use to push against the nonprofits sector’s scarcity mindset, equip your board, and shift your entire team into high-ROI fundraising.

📈 Work with me to fully-fund your nonprofit organization’s strategic plan and aspirational budget. If you’re a business-minded nonprofit CEO or Executive Director with big growth plans but need to make charitable revenue from relational donors a bigger part of your budget, you can apply to work with me here.

Sherry Quam Taylor

Sherry Quam Taylor works with business-minded Nonprofit CEOs whose Strategic Plans require expansive budgets and larger amounts of general-operating revenue for growth. To become investment-level ready, Sherry helps leaders see their revenue potential and helps them see what may be blocking donors from giving in this way. Sherry’s clients know how to attract larger donors by solving the funding challenges at the root of the issue.

As a result of learning her methodology, Sherry’s clients become sustainable, diversify revenue, and know how to add significant amounts gen-ops revenue to their budgets. But mostly, their development departments and board have transformed into high-ROI revenue generators – aligning their hours with relational dollars and set free from the limitations of transactional fundraising.

Sherry attributes the success of her business to her passion for modeling radical confidence to the future CEOs in her house - her two college-aged daughters.

https://www.QuamTaylor.com
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