Nikki is the co-founder of Fundraising Everywhere, featured in 2021’s Digital Womxn to Watch, and an international speaker about building innovative and inclusive teams.
In our latest research exploring how access to learning can help you thrive in your job, 62% of fundraisers said their biggest barrier to learning new things was finding the time to learn.
And I get it.
As an ex-fundraiser, I remember the packed diary with one eye on my target and another on the numerous tasks piled up to reach it.
Throw in personal lives with maintaining relationships, physical and mental health, and all of life’s little admin tasks, you have this (showing my age here by using a meme…)
But here’s the thing, you do have time to learn new things and in fact, I bet you’re already using it.
Here’s how…
Learning Isn’t Just About Formal Pathways
When sharing the insights from our research report, Sarah Crowhurst said, “At some point charities decided that learning and development meant going on an expensive in person training course. Getting accredited. Coming back with all the knowledge and insight to magically transform a project or process. But it’s so different to that”
And others agree.
In our results, online training, both live and on-demand, was the most popular format attended by 97%. We’re seeing evidence of this across the sector. As well as courses, workshops, and webinars provided by businesses and freelancers, Fundraising Everywhere supported 10,106 fundraisers with their professional development in 2024.
However, despite this, 50% of charities were offering funding for individual certification as their lead learning choice which is a huge time and brain energy commitment, not to mention inaccessible to many people’s learning styles. Most fundraisers stated their preference was conferences or adhoc training; mostly accessed online.
‘Learning’ does not mean ‘classroom’, ‘qualifications’, or ‘courses’. Accessing a webinar, reading a blog, or attending a conference can help you learn something new.
Learning Can Happen In Minutes
I’m willing to bet you money you have either Instagram, TikTok, or LinkedIn on your phone.
And when you’re scrolling on those apps, you watch videos, read posts, and swipe carousels (and you probably end up in a scroll hole that you have to snap out of an hour later)
I’m not here to berate you for that, it’s sometimes nice to let your brain mindlessly float off (especially when your feed is full of dog videos) – but I do want to highlight that every video you watch or post you read, you’re already learning something new.
Whether it’s news about the world, how to create airfryer recipes, or train your puppy; social media content is geared towards educational content to build brands, community, and businesses – so use that, and your time online, to your advantage.
Curate your feed so the things you’re learning are useful to the goals you’re trying to achieve and create a mindset that even minutes, not hours or days, you can learn something new.
Learning One New Thing Is Still Going To Help You Thrive
When investing time or effort into learning there’s a pressure to absorb everything and walk out away from the situation with your brain bursting out of your skull.
But that approach and mindset means your brain is focusing on keeping the information in, instead of absorbing what it means and how it can help you.
When approaching learning, accept that even learning just one thing is enough to improve your skills; and your ability to reach your targets.
Learning And Reflecting Keeps Your New Skills In Mind
There’s a tendency to rattle through our days when they’re so busy. And when we don’t make time to reflect, it’s easy for the things we do learn to disappear into the brain vault.
With your new mindset of being able to learn from multiple sources on a regular basis, be aware when those lightbulb moments are going off and make a note.
Share those learnings, and where you found them, on a regular basis with your team and discuss how they might be used.
Keep the habit of learning, noticing, sharing, and reflecting by creating spaces – conversational or digital – for you and your team to build healthier mindsets around what learning can look like.
In short (because that’s what we’re trying to highlight here) you are already learning something every day in the conversations you have, social media you engage with, and things you read – including this!
Be more mindful of those lightbulb moments where you have them and create more ways to seek them out.
And if you’d like to make it even easier to find hundreds of tiny lightbulb moments in one place, Fundraising Everywhere can help. Our on-demand microlearning resources mean you can learn any time, anywhere, and at your own pace. Then we have monthly live virtual and IRL moments where you can come together and share them with other people.
You can use promo code FREEMONTH here for you as a way of saying ‘well done for prioritising your learning by reading this article!’
Or if you’re a leader wanting access for your whole team like the folks at British Red Cross, WWF, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance, and Young Lives vs Cancer, contact Cam St Omer Donaldson here about getting involved.
