Last week Jeff Brooks, in his post How scarcity focuses your donors on your fundraising , noted the power of using “scarcity” in fundraising.  He cites the “scarcity” that exists in matching gift funds where there’s only a certain amount of money available and only a finite amount of time to meet the match

There’s no doubt that the shortage of time and money inherent in some fundraising efforts like the matching gift challenge are important and, in Jeff’s words, “If you have it [scarcity] trumpet it.  It works.”

Of course, as Jeff points out this scarcity has to be both real and it also has to seem to be real to the donor. In the case of truly honest matching gift campaigns [Shocker: many aren’t] there is the real element of actual funds available and a real amount of time in which they must be matched.

Beyond the use of scarcity as a fundraising technique I firmly believe that those organizations sharp enough to recognize —and act— on the marketplace scarcity of diligence when it comes to the treatment of donors will benefit enormously.

Let me explain.

The popular image of people who don’t save for the future is that they lack self-control.  I disagree. The reason saving is so difficult for many has less to do with self-control and far more to do with a shortage or inability to pay attention to both the present and the future.

Same with nonprofits.  The poverty of today’s fundraising is not so much a shortage of money today.   Rather, it’s the failure to pay attention to today’s trends and invest time, skill and money in order to meet tomorrow’s challenges.  The result is a scarcity of solid skills, diligence, and the investment required to build relationships with donors today for sustainability tomorrow.  This is a scarcity of resolve that ultimately and disastrously will lead to the long-term scarcity of money.

It’s not as though we didn’t see this coming.  Declining numbers of donors. Horrid retention rates.  Rising competition from an ever-grown number of nonprofits. And on and on.

And it sure isn’t because we don’t know what to do about it. It’s just that the solid practices of good donor relationship management first expounded by Ken Burnett a generation ago, then made increasingly explicit by the work of Adrian Sargeant, the research of DonorVoice, the pages of The Agitator and the preaching of some consultants have by and large been ignored in practice. Ignored despite being  given decibels of “donor centric” lip service at conference after conference and in blog after blog.

If you’re smart enough to seize and benefit from the opportunity that exists because of this scarcity of real donor relationship management in the marketplace here are some easy wins.  Wins that will distinguish your organization in the donors’ minds and hearts from the same-old-same-old that marks most nonprofits who will continue swimming in the sea of status quo sameness:

• Donors’ Time.  Nick talked about this being the real scarce resource a couple weeks ago.  Not only is time scarce, but it’s also the one commodity we can’t create more of.  So value your donors’ time and show it.  Make your organization’s contact information —including phone numbers—easy to find; not the Easter Egg Hunt found on most websites.  Make your donation pages easy and quick to use.  Remember, you’re competing with one-click Amazon.  So, if your CRM is making donating clunky get another CRM or payment processor.  Make information on your website easy to find.  Remember your website is for donors and prospective donors; it’s not the encyclopedia of organizational ego.
• Encourage Dialogue and Feedback.  Growing and lasting human relationships depend on two–way communication. Relationships are dialogues, not monologues, yet precious few organizations even bother to seek opinions and input from their donors.  This failure isn’t just stupid; it’s downright disrespectful and costly.  If you want to distinguish your organization get busy providing feedback opportunities, use the inexpensive telephone conferencing technologies for briefings and meetings and make sure your donor helpline is easily accessible and staffed by enthusiastic, informed representatives who love donors and don’t consider them a “cost center.”
• Show Respect.  Know your donors.  As a simple starter you might want to keep their addresses up to date so they can receive communications.  And get the name you use in the salutation of your letters correct. No faster way for a donor to learn you don’t know or care anything about him than with the salutation “Dear Charles” when it should be “Dear Chuck”. Invest in learning their identities (“why” they give to you)…their preferences (when and how they want to give)…and specifically how they’ve helped make a difference to your mission.  Failure to do so is proof positive of donor disrespect.

We all want to be loved and there’s no better way to deliver that love than by showing the donor that you know who she is, the difference she’s made, and, of course, that you respect her enough to say “thank you’ in a hundred different ways.

Scarcity is the new cool.  Seize the opportunity.

Roger