To misquote Oscar Wilde, “the meek borrow, genius steal…”, and steal (or borrow if you insist) is exactly what the non-profit sector must do in rewriting its best practices to address the intractable problem of lousy and declining retention rates.

Let us first stipulate, this post is not about bashing the sector.  To the contrary, we are committed to it and collectively have spent decades working in and for non-profits.  It is this commitment that allows, in fact, requires us to be constructively critical, to ask the hard questions and to force the sector and those who service it to address some fundamentally bad and getting worse trend lines – namely acquisition and retention rates – with new answers.

For years nonprofit marketers and fundraisers have relied almost exclusively on transactions to determine loyalty, audience segmentation, marketing messages, etc.  Constituent insights are inferred, sporadic and rarely connected to planning and execution.

This reality is simply no longer good enough.  Constituent insights and understanding must be core to the business.  Redefining how you serve the constituent across functional areas with differentiated levels of service to provide and receive greater value must become the new norm.  Continuous feedback and reciprocal response – true 1 to 1 marketing – with your constituents must be a core process.

To be sure, the sector is starting to think and talk about relationships and experiences and engagement.  These buzzwords are the right ones; they are integral to cracking the retention code, which in turn is the only way to real growth and sustainable businesses.

But time is the enemy.

Fortunately, the playbooks are already being written, first by academics and the large body of work dedicated to understanding and explaining what contributes to good and bad interpersonal relationships and in the for-profit marketing world where these basic relationship principles have been tested and refined and become the accepted framework for what is required to maximize profitability.

To start or contribute to the “stealing” process, consider this admittedly anecdotal but still instructive comparison based on our own experience in the commercial world and our regular efforts to stay apprised of the latest and greatest.

It should go without saying but there is a continuum on both sides.  Our only point, which is irrefutable, is that the commercial sector, as a whole, is way ahead.  Rather than bemoan or criticize this, recognize it for the opportunity it is and steal without incrimination or guilt – your organization’s success likely depends on it.

And if this does nothing but stir debate we’ll be satisfied (at least partly and at least for now).