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** Does Personal Investment Hurt Fundraising?
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January 8, 2026
Happy new year and welcome back to Ask a Nonprofit Expert, the nonprofit sector’s go-to advice column where seasoned nonprofit leaders offer advice and answers about how to build thriving, equitable organizations.
In today’s issue, seasoned nonprofit fundraising executive Rochelle Jerry answers a reader’s question about the impact of personal investments on fundraising.
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Does Personal Investment Hurt Fundraising?
By Rochelle Jerry
Dear Ask a Nonprofit Expert,
I’m a founder of a small nonprofit who is still the executive director and board president after 10 years.
We recently moved into our own space, which increased our expenses by $6,000 to $7,000 a month—my decision, because the right space opened up and I had a recent personal windfall and told the board I could handle it.
Since then (it’s been about six months), we have yet to up our game on fundraising, grantmaking, and program fees to fill the gap, so I am personally spending between $3,000 and $8,000 a month until we get our fundraising up to speed.
Does my personal investment hurt my grant and fundraising chances? Will funders consider that a sign of weakness?
Sincerely,
Personal Investor
Dear Personal Investor,
I’ve seen this before—many times, in fact. What you’re describing is not unheard of in the nonprofit sector. Founder energy is one of the most powerful forces driving new missions into the world. It can also be one of the riskiest.
Many organizations, especially those built from lived experience, passion, and necessity, begin with little more than a vision, a problem to solve, and a leader willing to do whatever it takes. In these early stages, the founder is often the strategist, the fundraiser, the operations team, and the financial backstop all at once. And while that determination can carry an organization surprisingly far, it eventually collides with a critical question: Does personal financial investment help or hurt the mission in the eyes of funders? The short answer: Personal investment doesn’t hurt fundraising—unsustainability does.
To understand the nuance, it’s helpful to look at the lived experience of a founder who built her organization without early philanthropic support.
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