Cats And Dogs And Donors
In one of his most clever and amusing posts ever, What my cat taught me about fundraising, fundraising creative Jeff Brooks gives us an important warning about relationships built upon delusions.
He notes that the delusions he and his cat have about each other — the cat thinks Jeff’s a cat, and Jeff thinks the cat is human — basically work to produce a mutually satisfying relationship.
“But”, he warns, “delusions like that don’t work in fundraising”.
His point: “If you think your donors are what you are — that is, experts in your cause who spend all their time thinking about it and working on it — you will never quite connect … Treat your donors as what they really are: Concerned non-experts who are paying less attention to you than you are.”
Let me take this a step further and talk about dogs.
The truth is, Jeff’s diffident cat isn’t really committed to Jeff that much. We all know his cat would trade him away in an instant if a better offer came along … like fishier cat meals or a cleaner litter box or a one-cat household.
Dogs, on the other hand, are totally devoted — and supremely loyal — to their owners. They crave connection: “Take me on a walk” … “Let me sleep beside the bed” … “Let me lick your plate”… “Let me fetch something for you”. No matter how much we might ignore our dog, she/he is still right there, begging to be our constant, forgiving companion.
So to riff off Jeff’s analogy, let me suggest …
While too many fundraisers might think of their donors as dogs (sorry, retention rates say I’m right) — “I can neglect them, but they’ll be faithful” — in reality it might pay to think of them as cats …
Ready to trade us away at the whiff of disappointment, neglect or a better offer!
Tom
3 responses to “Cats And Dogs And Donors”
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To continue this theme, here’s my take (two, actually!) on what dogs can teach us about fundraising.
May 2013– http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs116/1102767391075/archive/1113512157201.html
April 2016–
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs116/1102767391075/archive/1124504813042.html
This is wonderful! Cats, dogs, lovers, donors…whatever. I’m sharing this with my clients! Thank you thank you.
With a household of furry darlings, 4 dogs and 2 cats, how could I ever pass up reading this particular blog? Unthinkable! It rather hurts my feelings to think of my cats taking off so easily, but I also think Jeff is on to something as is Tom! My husband would add that if all donors were treated the way I treat my furry darlings, they would never leave! Retention would be 100%