Yesterday, in light of Target Analytics’ report on the continuing decline in both donor acquisition and donor giving, I asked “Why do so many organizations persist in doing the same old, same old year after year hoping that results will suddenly improve?”

At a time when every fundraiser knows the world has changed demographically, psychographically and financially,  the ‘global replace’ and ‘copy’ functions in Word and Excel seem to be still working well! 

Sadly, at a time when many nonprofits are clearly hurting and facing still further declines, I’m seeing many of the same, old, tired appeals, messages and techniques in my mailbox, clearly driven by plans that might as well be dated 1991 instead of 2010.

Surely, given the qualities of most fundraisers I know, neither stupidity nor sloth are to blame. I suspect the reason is fear.  Fear of not meeting “the numbers” copied from the previous year’s plan and discounted for the recession. Fear of not being able to convince the CEO or board to invest what’s really required to research, test and figure a better way into the future. Fear to dare. As Kate Mathews said in her comment yesterday … risk aversion.

But in reality, daring and risk-taking are essential rungs on the ladder up and out of the pit so many nonprofits are now facing. 

Here are the risks (“investments”, “dares”, “experiments” – call it what you will) I believe every nonprofit wanting to survive and grow in the coming decade must take:

1. Start from Scratch.  Get rid of this year’s plan based on last year’s activity.  Instead realistically identify the best assets you have—donors, programs, messages, and staff.  Invest in those, figure out how to get more of the same and stop wasting money on the ‘marginal’ just because it’s always been there.
2. Switch Lenses.  Most fundraisers and their consultants—especially the direct response variety – focus far too much on ‘market share’ and far too little on ‘share of donor.’  Stop worrying about ‘how many” members, donors, supporters you have. Instead concentrate on “how much” each is giving—and whether or not they’re giving as much or more to you than they are to others and whether they’re increasing that amount year over year.

   If you’re focusing your acquisition efforts on “quantity” instead of upgradeable, loyal “quality” your future is dim.

3. “Steal” and Test the Best. “Mediocrity borrows, genius steals”. Unfortunately, few fundraisers seem to heed George Bernard Shaw’s advice.

   Take the time and make the effort to discover the new market research, predictive modeling and analytic tools that once were the province of only the large for-profit corporations. Fortunately, today many of these approaches, effectively adapted for fundraising, are now available to nonprofits at affordable prices.

Here are the key areas of survival and future growth I believe are in most urgent need of attention—areas we intend to focus on in more detail in future Agitator posts:

1. Messaging and Positioning. In an age of ‘analysis paralysis’ over file segmentation and other endless number crunching, far too many organizations have opted for the ‘statistical magic bullet’ while ignoring the importance of truly understanding what mission and messages truly resonate with current or future donors.

   The ‘case for support’ is probably the most important element in fundraising and, sadly, the most ignored.

2. Donor Loyalty. With retention rates dropping and new donor acquisition plummeting, survival depends not only on being able to identify your most loyal donors, but also to spot factors that may be driving defections. The days of quickly and cheaply replacing lost donors with new donors is long gone.
3. Share of Donor. Fewer and fewer donors do not have to mean less and less money. As far as I’m concerned, any fundraising plan that doesn’t focus financial investment, staff resources and research on increasing your organization’s share of a donor’s total giving isn’t a plan – it’s a prescription for failure.
4. Monitoring Change. Seizing New Opportunity. Vast and fast technological and social changes are affecting every fundraising and membership program. Yet few organizations really understand how to monitor, track and seize the opportunities presented by these changes.

   Going forward The Agitator is committed to providing some insight and suggesting some tools for staying on top and benefiting from all this change.

Last week the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press reported that by 2-1 Americans rated the just-ended decade as the worst in 50 years – a feeling shared regardless of age.

Fortunately 60% of those surveyed felt this new decade will be far better. And leading the parade of positive trends was the feeling about technology and communications.

No wonder lots and lots of attention is being paid to the so-called social media – as most Agitator readers well know.

The reason we will watch it even more closely isn’t because it’s new and fun and glows in the dark. It’s because it seems to be growing in importance, and may be affecting (positively and negatively) the more traditional channels like direct mail, print and telemarketing.

Starting tomorrow Tom will begin drilling down into those strata.

And for the weeks and months ahead here at The Agitator and at our parent DonorTrends, we’ve made a commitment to do our part to help reverse the trend line in this new decade.

Roger