Funder Meeting Breakthroughs for the Zoom Era
The nerve-wracking events we call funder meetings deserve new consideration in the virtual age. Especially if your organization relies on major grants, there’s an urgency in adapting them for trust-building and productivity.
Among the new obstacles is reduced time with funders. Half-hour demarcations now define our calendars. I wasted hours at a time as a guest in office lobbies, but work culture now resists keeping people in video waiting rooms for more than five minutes. The next visitor is always at hand.
T-minus 30 minutes—60 if you’re lucky—to go from pleasantries to proposal.
Elicit Feelings, Not Just Facts
Our business relationships rely on squeezing humanity out of the rotating cast of faces on our screens. The exchange of feelings quickens connection. It injects vulnerability into conversations.
Imagine an introductory meeting. After brief hellos, you ask, “How long have you worked for the Megabucks Foundation?” Think about a potential response.
It reveals minimal insight. At most, you gauge the depth of knowledge this person has about the workplace.
It’s a dead end. Whether the answer is ten months or ten years, you wonder, “Where do I take the conversation from here?”
Consider the shift from facts to emotions when you ask, “Why did you take this job?”
The response offers insight into your contact’s values. It creates an openness that speeds the road to trust.
It uncovers conversational springboards. It might expose a mutual interest or point of empathy.
Bonus: You likely get your answer about job tenure. If you don’t get the exact number of years, you will learn whether the employee is a novice or veteran, which is the core context you need.
It takes preparation to rethink your standard meeting practices, but small changes can strengthen your rapport.
Rely on Stated Goals, Not Assumptions
How can you possibly exchange feelings and leave time for substance? In short, clarify the conversation’s goal.
Not all funder interactions are financial transactions. The two parties can possess very different expectations. In the most common disconnect, the hopeful grantee pushes for a specific project to be funded, while the foundation staffer views the meeting as exploratory. When expectations diverge that much, time is wasted, frustration builds, and relationships suffer.
Imagine instead an interaction with a stated goal. Before a meeting with a current funder, you can declare, “I am writing to confirm that my CEO and I and will walk you through our new strategic five-year vision.” Boom. Everyone knows what to expect and how to use the time.
Define your intent—in advance of and during your gatherings—and find added clarity to all of your communications.
Might there be surprises? Absolutely. I’ve seen offers of grants tap dance into agendas directed squarely elsewhere.
Respond with Context, Not Just When Asked
New grant seekers learn to follow foundations’ directions. Yet, that behavior can be counterproductive when you have limited time with a funder.
During a video meeting, if a familiar program officer asks you to talk about what’s new, it’s easy to deliver an immediate—and rote—response. Maybe the text you just drafted for a general operating report spills out of your mouth. What if just one of the five points you rattle off interests this foundation? If your time is limited to 30 minutes, do you want to deplete it with a thorough but largely irrelevant response?
Clarify broad questions before you answer them. You want to provide a concise, precise response. Otherwise, you risk taking the conversation on a path that misses this funder’s priority interests.
In this case, push back with, “There’s so much to tell you about. Why don’t you begin by letting me know your most pressing interest areas.”
The need for precision is a direct offshoot of the video meeting era. Rarely can you or those you speak with extend tight appointment windows. You must understand how to best achieve your meeting goal in the time allotted.
You can’t always control your foundation meeting agendas. Some will remain fact-based, go long, or get derailed no matter what you do. But, if you come prepared, you will show yourself to be a strategic partner who values time. Who doesn’t want a grantee like that?
See Charles Duhigg’s book, Supercommunicators, for more detail on how to change how you engage.