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I grew up attending conservative evangelical churches where I was steeped in the art of playing the long game. Building institutions, creating community, and investing in generational change weren’t just ideals — they were deliberate strategies.
Jerry Falwell, leader of the Christian conservative Moral Majority movement, helped orchestrate my first record-breaking fundraising event: We raised more money in a single day for my employer at the time — Joy Ranch Home for Children in Woodlawn, Va. — than in its 50-year history. Falwell didn’t just show up and give a talk. He also wrote a check and made sure I had pledge cards on the table.
For most of my adult life, I have lived in York County, Pa., one of the reddest counties in the country. It’s a place where the long game is a lived reality — evident in everything from an effort over many years to bring people and resources together to build a local ballpark to our penchant for electing leaders who stay in office for decades. It’s a mindset that prioritizes not just the next year or even the next decade but an entire generational arc.
In my day-to-day life as a fundraising adviser, I encourage my clients to adopt this same long-game mentality. That means moving away from shallow fundraising tactics that merely tap into the donor’s consumer impulses in favor of more deliberate strategies that encourage meaningful relationships and sustainable levels of support.
While my politics have shifted over the past decade, my understanding of how conservatives achieved what they have — and the lessons their approach offers — is as clear as ever. Their strategies, rooted in coalition building, mutually agreed upon playbooks, and persistence despite setbacks, transcend ideology and are essential for navigating today’s uncertain landscape. Fundraising is no exception.
Much of today’s fundraising operates with a siloed mindset — single-issue organizations targeting narrow, ideologically pure audiences. This emotionally charged approach often gets everyone riled up and raises a lot of cash in the short term, but it doesn’t ensure lasting relationships or meaningful progress. Instead, it fragments communities and sacrifices long-term impact.
The current political and cultural landscape, including a conservative Supreme Court majority and the second election of President Donald Trump, is the result of decades of careful planning, institution-building, and grassroots engagement. Falwell and his contemporaries understood that cultural and political influence required patience and discipline, paired with a determination to lay the groundwork for accomplishments that future generations alone would realize.
Falwell’s legacy is complex and certainly open to critique. Many in the nonprofit world will likely recoil at the idea that he could be a model for their work. That would be a mistake. Regardless of who is in power, his approach to fostering interdependence among diverse groups offers a valuable framework for those seeking long-term change.
Coalitions Across Divides
Falwell and his peers understood that to have lasting influence they needed a network far broader than any single issue or faction. This approach continues to define the conservative movement today. Consider the example of the Augusta Christian School in Martinez, Ga. Les Walden, the head of school, recently told me that his students come from more than 100 different churches, any two of which might quickly identify areas of disagreement. But they unite around the school’s mission to educate students with a Christian worldview.
I’ve seen this up close myself. While the faith-based mission of my previous employer, Logos Academy in York, Pa., resonated with conservative evangelicals, it also attracted donors who shared our commitment to urban redevelopment and the creation of community across social and economic barriers. The organization continues to build and sustain relationships with many who have no intention of showing up for church on Sunday.
These experiences highlight a fundamental truth: Building effective coalitions requires uniting a broad group of stakeholders by creating shared commitments and a common mission. Fundraisers who embrace this approach reflect the complexity of their communities. They don’t erase differences — they leverage them to achieve meaningful change. This is the long game in action: building networks that endure across divides.
Mutually Agreed Upon Playbooks
One of the reasons the Moral Majority was so effective was its ability to establish a playbook that worked for all members of its coalition, regardless of their role in the network. The goal wasn’t uniformity — it was alignment on key priorities, including securing judicial appointments, electing candidates at every level of government, and framing the movement as a fight for religious freedom.
The playbook allowed coalition members to operate within a shared framework of trust, collaboration, and mutual accountability. Much of the playbook wasn’t formalized or written down — it was implicit, understood through conversations, shared experiences, and trusting relationships.
Far too many fundraisers spend their time chasing money from those who haven’t agreed to the same playbook, forcing the fundraisers into a position where they are constantly seeking approval rather than building trust-based partnerships. This permission-seeking dynamic weakens their leverage, shifts power to donors who may not share their vision, and ultimately limits their potential.
I was given some practical advice early in my fundraising career by a gentleman who spent his entire career raising money for conservative, evangelical organizations. He told me, “Don’t submit a proposal to a foundation unless it’s been discussed over lunch and agreed upon with a handshake.” When I asked what to do if no one would agree to meet, his answer was simple: “Then don’t ask.” In other words, if you’re focused on filling out a grant application rather than developing a trusting relationship with the person making the funding decisions, you’ve likely already lost the deal.
Sustained Momentum
Once you’ve built a broad coalition and crafted a mutually agreed upon playbook, keeping the momentum going is critical. For many of the organizations I’ve worked with, this boils down to two essential rules in their playbooks: maintaining confidence despite inevitable setbacks and appreciating how small wins pave the way for larger ones.
Sustaining momentum doesn’t mean waiting years for a breakthrough. It’s about building confidence and instilling habits that lead to steady progress. I saw this firsthand at the Valley Christian School in Oshkosh, Wis., where I worked with Brad Dunn, the head of school, to identify an ambitious yet attainable goal: eliminate a $900,000 debt that had weighed on the school for decades. More than balancing the books, this effort was about proving to the community — and themselves — that extraordinary achievements were possible.
We developed a straightforward but strategic plan to limit the campaign to fewer than 10 donors. This approach allowed school leaders to see the value of developing close relationships with a small number of donors who shared their vision rather than chasing dollars from hundreds of people through a mass fundraising campaign. Despite initial doubts, the team met its goal, gaining confidence, learning how to set higher expectations for their donors, and developing new habits in the process.
Today, six years later, Dunn is $12 million into a $20 million campaign for a new high school. He and others have told me that the first small win was transformative, laying the groundwork for everything that followed.
Uncertain and difficult times test our resolve and raise expectations for ourselves and our donors. The challenges we face — growing economic uncertainty, increasing political polarization, and shifting donor expectations — call for a different approach. They demand the patience and persistence of the long game.
If there’s one takeaway from the lessons of the Moral Majority and the conservative movement more broadly, it’s this: Enduring success belongs to those who think beyond immediate circumstances, build coalitions that bridge divides, and sustain momentum through small but meaningful victories. In a world defined by fleeting trends and rising uncertainty, this mindset is more essential than ever.
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