Learning from the American Fundraising Model: A European Perspective March 2014 | Page 24

09. a new approach
to private
donors
Willem Bijleveld, Director,
National Maritime Museum
(Netherlands), Class of 2008
When it comes to the factors underpinning
successful fundraising, Willem Bijleveld sees
principles at work in the United States that
are highly relevant in a European context. “It’s
the personal attention and excellent research
– that’s most important when you approach
companies,” says Bijleveld, director of the Netherlands’ National Maritime Museum. “And with
private donors the personal attention is even
more critical.”
The importance of these principles was brought
home to him in 2008 on the KBFUS study visit
in New York. “It was very beneficial for me to
see the broad spectrum of what you can and
cannot achieve in fundraising,” he explains.
“And there were a lot of tips that got me off on
the right foot.”
Bijleveld’s trip came at a time when the museum
was stepping up its fundraising initiatives in response to diminishing state funding. “Over the
past five years, we’ve seen a steady decrease in
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the amount of money we get from government
– and that trend will not be reversed,” he says.
Partly, this is due to the public finance squeeze
since the onset of the European economic crisis. However, in the Netherlands, an additional pressure is at work. “The government is less
and less willing to spend money on culture,”
explains Bijleveld. “That trend started 15 years
ago but the crisis speeded up the process.”
As a result, the museum has changed the way
it approaches donors, working to create closer
emotional connections with them than in the
past.
The change is also evident in Bijleveld’s personal style of donor cultivation. Instead of seeking
support for the purchase or restoration of specific objects, he tries to engage donors in the
history and welfare of the museum itself. “Ten
years ago, my proposals were very much driven by objects,” he says. “Now, I’ll start by telling
the story of the museum. Donors are all people, so you hit them with stories and emotion,
not with facts.”
At the same time, instead of relying on many
small donations, the museum is now seeking
donors capable of giving €100,000 and has de-