Changing Fundraising's Behavior
I’m a father of four children. If there’s anything Erika and I have learned as parents, it’s that if we expect our children’s behavior to change, then we must change our behavior first. Anyone raising children knows exactly what I’m talking about. The same can be said for fundraising and the expectations we have for our donors. To raise the expectations of donor behavior, we must first change our own.
The behavior most nonprofits must change is how we interact with our donors—most importantly, with those whose support we expect to renew. We should never again be accused of exploiting the likes of Olive Cooke for whatever value she might provide, in exchange for the shallowest relationship we can provide her in return. We need not exaggerate the complexity of having tea. Let’s not let that get in the way of developing a meaningful relationship—and asking for a meaningful level of support.
If the focus of our fundraising efforts is to increase the volume of addresses in our databases while holding to the same quality of relationship and expectations of commitment they represent, we’re fighting a losing battle. The nonprofit sector’s dependency on arm’s-length fundraising has run its course. For too long, we believed fundraising could be done efficiently regardless of its effectiveness, without the expectation of a meaningful relationship as part of the exchange. This is no longer the case. The costs have gotten too high, the competition too great, and the distractions too many.
If those who are expected to raise significant amounts of money spend most of their time and resources organizing events, mailing and emailing, and tinkering with online platforms, they undermine the opportunity to achieve their goals, master the skills that are most desirable to their employer, and ultimately interfere with the organization’s ability to accomplish its mission.
If there is anything that my two decades of fundraising in the nonprofit sector has taught me, it is that generous donors and talented fundraisers generally expect the same thing. They want to be recognized and admired for the unique and meaningful contributions that they make towards mission accomplishment. The War for Fundraising Talent is already being won by those organizations that understand this similarity in expectations.
Fundraising will not thrive if we continue to mistake their scarcest resource as donors with dollars. After years of obsessively accumulating new donors, most organizations have more than enough donors to keep them busy for quite some time.
Fundraising will thrive if we identify, train, and retain a new generation of fundraising talent characterized by higher expectations of themselves and their donors. Once the initial gift has been received, it will be the fundraiser’s responsibility to discern who will be asked to give again. In asking for donors’ renewed support, we are committing ourselves to a meaningful relationship with them, and we are expecting a meaningful commitment in return. It will be our distinct and deliberate practices, those that begin with a meaningful relationship and lead to meaningful support, that the fundraising profession can be recognized and admired for.
The Austrian psychiatrist, author, and Holocaust survivor Victor Frankl believed that man’s search for meaning was his primary motivational force. Frankl explained that being human always points us toward someone or something other than ourselves. He recognized that the more we give of ourselves, the more human we become.
Similarly, German poet and philosopher Goethe wrote:
Let man be noble,
Generous and good;
For that alone
Distinguishes him
From all the living
Beings we know.
Fundraising affords citizens of our modern society an opportunity to experience two of the few things that make us uniquely human. To give and to receive are distinct human experiences. It is our responsibility as fundraising professionals, and those who employ them, to ensure that generosity and gratitude are meaningful opportunities expressed and experienced to the fullest.
If you’re interested in partnering with Responsive Fundraising, feel free to reach out to me for an introductory conversation. I would be delighted to coordinate some time in the next couple of days to better understand your organizations opportunities and challenges and share how we might be of some assistance. Feel free to email me at jason@responsivefundraising.com