Three Ways Emotional Intelligence Can Help You Become a Better Fundraiser

Have you ever considered your skills in the area of Emotional Intelligence?

Emotional intelligence means – among other things – that you have high social and personal competence.

You understand your own reactions to situations, and you are aware of other people’s feelings and reactions.

It’s an attribute of the most highly skilled leaders – and major gift fundraisers.

Today, Dr. Kathryn Gamble and I are sharing a video describing “Three Ways Emotional Intelligence Can Help You Become a Better Fundraiser.”

Emotional intelligence can help you three ways:

1. Helps you focus on the donor and not yourself

If you are all wrapped up in what’s going on inside yourself, then you will not be aware of how you are coming across.

When you can master your own self, and keep yourself calm, then your focus is where it needs to be – on the other person.

2. Sharpens your radar to listen to your donor’s cues.

Any conversation needs to be about the other person.

Your donor will give you all sorts of cues and signals about their interests, their philanthropy and their willingness to help your organization. You have to be alert!

3. Helps you navigate donor conversations 

Donors can throw all sorts of things at you and catch you by surprise.  With emotional intelligence, you can calmly shift and handle anything.

You’ll be able to pivot and take control of the conversation – and take your donor where you want to go.

Watch our Facebook Live discussion on Emotional Intelligence

We also chatted about it on Facebook Live this week – you can view that discussion here.

In the first webinar of our new course this week, “Raise Major Gifts in Virtual Times,” everyone was all over this topic. So we decided to dive more deeply into it for you today.