Written by Yvette Gyles, Director at The Management Centre
Yvette specialises in leadership, personal effectiveness, change and innovation.
Before joining =mc, she worked in HR for several years in both the private and charity sector as an HR Manager. In these roles, Yvette provided advice and guidance to managers, staff and trade union representatives. She also delivered several change projects and worked closely with senior leaders.
A perfect storm
Navigating the changes currently faced by most fundraisers is a bit like playing whack-a-mole. No sooner have you adapted to another budget cut than a supplier puts their prices up. You’re about to roll out a massive digital campaign on a well known social media platform when it gets taken over by an ethically questionable billionaire. Sound familiar?
The combined impact of economic pressures, political uncertainty, and shifting public expectations are leaving many fundraisers feeling stretched, under-resourced, and anxious about the future. Understandably, this can leave you feeling deeply concerned and at worst powerless. But whilst there are lots of things you cannot control, there is a way forward.
Change your response
At a human level, we all have it within ourselves to make a conscious choice on how we respond to change. This is a mindset. By shifting our thinking we can take power back by focusing our time, energy, and attention where we can have real impact — not just for ourselves, but for our teams, our supporters, and our missions.
Stephen R. Covey’s classic, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People*, provides one of the most enduring tools to get into this mindset. He explains we can distinguish between our Circle of Concern and our Circle of Influence.
The Circle of Concern
The Circle of Concern includes all the things we care about: funding shortfalls, leadership changes, skills shortages, climate crises, and regulatory complexity. These things matter deeply, and have a huge impact on our day to day work. But the hard reality is that most of them are outside our direct control. We can vote wisely, campaign for change, advocate for better policy, put in risk mitigation plans but we cannot make these things go away.
The Circle of Influence
The Circle of Influence, on the other hand, includes the things we can actually do something about — one part of this is how we change our behaviour to influence others; and the other is how we regulate our behaviour to change outcomes for ourselves. Changing our behaviour can influence relationships, how other people experience us, how we communicate with others, how we lead and support them. Adapting our mindset and attitude helps us to regulate our nervous system, allowing us to make better decisions, consider how we show up every day and take actions that are in our best interest.
Covey’s point is simple but powerful: effective people focus their energy within their Circle of Influence. They accept that while they can’t change everything, they can choose their response. And by doing so, they often expand their influence over time.
What this means for fundraisers
Let’s bring this down to the day-to-day realities of fundraising in tough times. You are not alone if you feel stuck in the Circle of Concern. This can include thoughts like:
- “We’ve lost our donors and there’s nothing in the pipeline.”
- “Nobody’s giving like they used to.”
- “Leadership doesn’t get what we’re up against.”
- “There is no clear way forward.”
- “My team will leave and I can’t keep them”
These can all be completely true but that is also overwhelming. Getting stuck on this can stop us from taking action.
How to move forward
Shifting our focus to the Circle of Influence means asking different questions: here are some examples:
- Helena the Head of Fundraising is in demand: Helena is under a huge amount of pressure, especially from the Board who just want to see more money coming in. Demanding more won’t magic up the income the charity needs. So instead, Helena has reframed the situation by asking: “What can I do today to build stronger relationships with the donors we still have?” – and presenting to the Board her ideas, along with the support she needs from them. They will see the action plan and attempts being made. Helena can influence them to support her instead of making unreasonable demands.
- Samaira is solo and anxious: Samaira is a solo fundraiser and is feeling it. With no one else in her team to turn to, she can easily feel overwhelmed and anxious about the right way forward. She could easily get stuck in analysis paralysis – endlessly researching ideas to find new ways to move the organisation forward and not making a decision. So instead, Samaira has reframed this as “Who can I collaborate with inside or outside the organisation to generate fresh ideas?” She turns to her Fundraising Everywhere network and builds connections, enabling her to find out what others have tried before that she can learn from.
- Max manages the team: Max is a manager of a small team of fundraisers. Max needs to implement a change in approach as a result of the new strategy and knows that not everyone on the team will love this idea. Max is stuck between rocks and hard places. This is a squeeze and of course the day job is not going anywhere. Instead of working all the hours and then some, they reframe the situation as: “This is happening, and we need to make it work for us. How can I help my team stay motivated and connected?” Max takes action and becomes the conduit for feedback. He asks the team for their input and ideas, feeding this up to senior management. He asks senior management for data, information and plans, feeding this back to his team. He sets boundaries, manages expectations and keeps everyone informed.
These brilliant fundraisers are not dismissing the very real challenges that they face. But they do reframe them in terms of action they can take personally. Taking back power.
Grow your circle of influence to reduce overwhelm
One of the most encouraging parts of Covey’s model is this: the more you act within your Circle of Influence, the more it grows. When you are able to name your feelings, and still remain calm enough to take action, people feel safe to do the same. When you communicate clearly and consistently, trust increases. When you bring ideas rather than just problems, people listen.
Change in the charity sector is happening and that’s not going to stop. This may be something we can all accept, but that doesn’t make it feel any less hard to handle. And for many of us, it feels personal. But the most effective response isn’t panic or paralysis — it’s purpose.
Stephen Covey reminds us that while we can’t control all the forces shaping our world, we can control our response to them. By working within our Circle of Influence, we not only survive change — we become part of the reason others do too.
Equip yourself for Change
If you’ve found this article useful and would like to explore further tools and approaches on navigating change, book a place on The Management Centre Learning’s half-day Change workshops taking place online:
As a FE Member, you can use promo code FEChange10 for 10% off these workshops from The Management Centre.
*Further reading on Stephen Covey’s work can be found on Reducing Fear and Anxiety in Uncertain Times in this blog by Jennifer Colosimo, Enterprise President at FranklinCovey
Voice Your Thoughts 🗣️
Our platform is open to anyone and everyone in the sector that has an opinion, idea, or resource they would like to share to help make our sector better. If you would like write and share something, pop an email over to hello@fundraisingeverywhere.com and we will support you every step of the way to share your voice.
© Fundraising Everywhere.
hello@fundraisingeverywhere.com
+44 333 015 6154
Designed & developed by mtc.
