Wallowing In Fundraising Delusions
Awhile back, Jeff Brooks cited a number of ‘fundraising delusions’ he read about on Social Velocity.
The Social Velocity article opened as follows: “Fundraising is, for the most part, a fundamentally misunderstood activity. There are a lot of misconceptions, among nonprofit leaders, board members — even donors — about effective ways to bring money in the door.”
Social Velocity singled out ‘delusions’ about event fundraising, crowdfunding, ‘mass recruitment’ of major donors, skimping on fundraising staff and systems, and building up endowments (see Roger here on this last one).
Jeff added another: There’s a technology or new media fix that will make fundraising easy.
I agree with Jeff. For example, is mobile making your fundraising easy?
I don’t think so. Instead, it’s a hugely relevant, ubiquitous and important medium that smart fundraisers must master with great effort. Just like you had to master email fundraising (have you done that yet?) … and direct mail before that (have you done that yet?).
I think fundraising is getting harder, not easier … and I’m still just speaking in the tactical sense.
When you go beyond that, beyond the realm of subject line testing and ‘responsive design’ to really important strategic stuff like not screwing up your donor relationships, then fundraising — or should I say, getting fundraising right — is even tougher.
Because you’re then dealing with conceptual change — how you think about your donors — not mere transaction mechanics.
So here’s the ‘delusion’ I would add to Social Velocity’s and Jeff’s …
There’s always more donors where the ones we lost came from.
Any fundraising delusion you’d like to offer?
Tom
P.S. Hey, it’s open season … I’ll settle for any delusion you want to share. Bare your soul!
4 responses to “Wallowing In Fundraising Delusions”
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Tom, I believe you nailed the biggest delusion right off the top. The theory of abundance continues to be negated in so many areas of our life. Perhaps time will allow this to happen in the nonprofit sector too.
The effect this theory has on actual donor retention numbers is staggering.
Prediction for decades into the future: Boards will hold their respective nonprofits accountable for decent retention rates and it will be reviewed as much as top line revenue and more so than expenses…
I totally disagree with the Social Velocity article in regards to “Let’s face it, an endowment makes sense for very few nonprofits”.
The values-based process at Thompson & Associates has raised $7 BILLION dollars since 1998. 95 nonprofits in 31 states average $2-$5 million in new planned gifts within 12 months. Baby Boomers are inheriting an estimated $12 TRILLION dollars from the Greatest Generation, as 4000 of them die daily, which is 2,800 probates per week or 145,500 per year. It’s the greatest transfer of wealth in our history.
The problem is that nonprofits are not educated to the fact their donors can self-direct estate tax dollars to their favorite charities via planned giving tools.
A small faith-based children’s home in rural AR has an endowment of $13 million. Do you not think they can use $650,000.00 flowing into their operating fund from a 5% return?
Neil missed this one!
One of the biggest delusions is that fundraising is begging for money… as opposed to having a strategic program to find and build relationships with people who are passionate about your cause and willing to give to it.
It mostly stems from fear about actually asking for funds… and trying to take the “easy” route or a “quick fix”.
The task of actually setting strategic goals and setting up a well-managed fundraising program with the right systems and proper staff just seems too hard when we could “just” do an event… or save money by doing it online… etc.
As President of a small organization that wants to do big things, I must agree with June!
Our Board is coming together to look at multiple approaches for our funding strategic plan. This is a very exciting time!
PS We do have an endowment fund through our local Community Foundation. It is at $15,000 and that extra $700 (or so) per year is a start to our inviting people to remember us with a bequest!