How the Craziest Ideas Can Boost Your Fundraising Efforts

Have you had a far-out, wacky idea? Something way different than you’ve ever tried before?

If so, that could be the exact thing you need to try right now.

How a Crazy Idea Recently Took Flight

Yesterday, Andrea Kihlstedt, my co-founder at the Capital Campaign Toolkit, warned me she was going to write a blog post I might not like.

The post is actually a great one, on how to have meaningful, unscripted conversations with donors. It was her offer in our newsletter about improv lessons she thought might be a bit far out for my sensibilities.

One thing you should know about Andrea is that she has a lot of great ideas. Some I agree with… others not so much. Some we try. Many get left on the virtual drawing board.

The latest idea — the idea of providing improv as part of the Capital Campaign Toolkit — seemed to be one of those far-out ideas, which would be better left on the cutting room floor.

That being said, Andrea is creative, where I am more methodical, so it makes us a great team. So I generally trust her “crazy” ideas. And out the newsletter went with an offer for improv as a way to improve your conversational fundraising skills.

Needless to say, the responses flooded in. Responses to the tune of:

Sounds terrifying, I’m in!

I think the reason it resonated is that everyone is looking for inspiration these days. Same old-same old simply won’t do.

3 Steps to Boost Your Fundraising Efforts with a Little Crazy

So how can you embrace more of those crazy, out-of-the-box ideas? Here’s a simple 3-step approach you can try.

Step 1: Designate a Crazy Idea Fund

How much risk are you willing to take? $1,000? $10,000? $100,000? Some ideas will take an investment to get off the ground.

As a sector, we’re trying to solve the world’s biggest problems. If it was easy, we’d have done it by now.

In order to succeed, you may need to take some risks. Because what you’ve already tired isn’t working — or at least it’s not working as well as you’d like.

So how much are you willing to invest in trying something new? The bigger the fund, the bigger the ideas are likely to be. We couldn’t have gotten to the moon and back for $1,000.

Step 2: Make Time to Brainstorm

Take time to brainstorm and let your creative thoughts fly. And don’t let the naysayers (like me or others in the vicinity) drain your creative juices.

Put together a group of five or so people. You can do this on Zoom. Tell them the goal is to try something new. Feel free to add parameters — for example, no special events.

The point of this brainstorming session is to come up with as many out-of-the-box ideas as you can. If it’s been tried before, it might not be “out-of-the-box” enough. Although, you can certainly try something old with a new twist.

Ask each person to take a few minutes to jot down some notes. Then, go around the room and ask everyone to share at least two things from their list. Listen to the ideas without judgment. Lastly, go around the room once more to dig deep for those really crazy ideas that folks were afraid to share the first time around.

After you’ve done this meeting, you’ll have an assortment of interesting ideas to consider.

Step 3: Implement Your Idea

Once you’re ready to implement at least one new idea, draft a plan, designate a leader, and set a timeline for its completion. This implementation process is likely to take more time than steps 1 and 2. The time it takes is dependent on just how crazy (and involved) your idea is.

Just like seeds need nutrients, water, sunshine, and time to grow, new ideas need time and other inputs to come to fruition. In other words, if you mix all the right ingredients for a cake, but don’t let it bake for long enough, you’ll never get a cake.

You may not think your new idea is working, but it’s possible you haven’t given it enough time. So be patient and give any new ideas a fighting chance to work.

Just How Crazy is Crazy?

We’re probably all somewhere along a spectrum of crazy to brilliant. Who’s to say which ideas are crazy and which are brilliant? Sometimes it’s the craziest ideas that work the best.

Although I don’t think of myself as a very creative person, I do have my share of new ideas and projects. One colleague I’ve been working with for nearly a decade almost always quashes my new ideas. I think of him as the rain on my parade. I come up with ideas and he immediately tells me why they won’t work. It’s a great counterbalance.

But that same colleague has also told me (more than once) how impressed he is by some of my crazier ideas. And I know he’s excited to be a part of the process when those ideas take root and grow.

Ultimately, we try some of the new ideas I have, and others we shelve. Many work, some don’t. But if we never tried them, we’d never know which ideas had the most potential. And a few of those ideas have been extraordinary game-changers for the trajectory of my work.

You Are Your Own Worst Enemy and Your Own Best Friend

In any given room, are you the idea generator or the idea crusher? What can you do to stimulate more ideas from your team?

Think for a moment. Allow a crazy idea to bubble up. Then be really brave and share your out-of-the-box idea in the comments below. Even if your idea doesn’t work for you, it might spark some amazing ideas for your peers.