Millennial Insights | Milwaukee, the Virus & Fundraising
PHOTO CREDIT Will Skaggs
Recently, my partner Marybeth Budisch and I asked ourselves a question: If we were raising funds for or leading a nonprofit and were faced with our current crisis, who would we turn to and ask for advice?
Our list was filled with a great deal of Boomers, and we thought, what about Millennials who are fundraising? We quickly thought of Light the Hoan Bridge, led by two Millennials in Ian Abston and Michael Hostad. So we asked the two: Did you realize when you started on this project what you were taking on in terms of fundraising?
Here’s what Michael and Ian shared:
Michael started, two words immediately popped into my head after reading the question and they were: "hell no!"
“I've had experience fundraising in the past,” Michael said. “But setting out to raise over $4M to install interactive lighting on the Hoan Bridge would push my fundraising base of knowledge well beyond its limits, and further test my resolve in ways that I didn't expect.”
Ian continued: “We didn't know what we didn't know. There isn't a playbook for how civic projects get done in Milwaukee. Sure, there's a lot of best practices related to fundraising in general, and many of those applied to what we were doing, but the big piece that we didn't account for was the fundraising culture in Milwaukee. There was a lot to learn here and we did so by doing a lot of talking, asking for help, and falling on our faces...a lot.”
Michael said, “I also didn't anticipate the roller coaster ride I was about to take. There were many moments where I was clearly not tall enough to take this ride. I learned that fundraising is a game of intense highs and crushing lows. But, you grow a thicker skin and realize that it's not personal. It took me a while to get there. Human beings are not conditioned to take "NO" very well. But, it was those "YES" moments that drove me forward. It made me want more. I learned from every fundraising verdict that was handed down to me.”
Ian finished: “At the end of the day, we surrounded ourselves with capable people who were willing to help us and those who were willing to share the in's and out's of what it takes to bring about civic change in Milwaukee. Now it's our job to share what we've learned with our peers.”
Ian and Michael’s bios:
Ian Abston and Michael Hostad are co-founders of the Light the Hoan initiative. Since 2016, the two have been actively working to secure permission and funding to install interactive LED lights on Milwaukee's iconic Hoan Bridge. When not lighting bridges, Hostad serves as the Executive Director and Co-founder of The Commons, a talent development and retention initiative of the Greater Milwaukee Committee. Abston is the president of the Hoan leadership group and a public speaker and thought leader on millennial engagement strategies.