Donor-Centered Fundraising

Some say there is a crisis in nonprofits' inability to acquire and then retain new donors. Maybe we're not being donor-centric enough. First, it might be helpful for you to read Penelope Burk's "Donor Centered Fund Raising" and get the benefit of her extensive research into the giving habits and preferences of the Baby Boomer and Gen-X demographic cohorts. Then here are some thoughts about what to do next:

The first thing boards, executives and fundraisers in nonprofit organizations need to do to gather the money they're leaving on the table (yes, even in the midst of the recession there's money out there to be had!) is to re-think and re-write the case for support for their organizations so that their donor prospects can see how they can achieve their objectives through the nonprofit organization's work.

The Ike generation is about gone. We're having to re-program ourselves to the Baby Boomers, the Gen-Xers, Gen-Y and the Milleniums -- the generational cohorts brought up on television and the movies. So if the case for support doesn't meet THEIR needs (forget about the charity's needs), they're not going to listen. And if it doesn't talk and move, they're not going to pay any attention. We must re-think our use of media. Yesterday's color brochure is today's video, podcast, web presentation. So, yes, costs of production are up because the media are richer and more powerful. But we've got to pony up and invest in our fundraising infrastructure in order to make the oxytocin run and get the money that's out there.

The second thing we need to do is invent metrics that tell us just how much real sustainable "good" we're doing in society and how we're changing society for the better. These demographic cohorts want to see progress; they want to know that their gifts are making a difference. Doing good is just not enough any more. We must know that we're changing things, and we must report that to our donors and to the prospects we hope to solicit. We can keep new donors if we are attentive to their needs.

Yes, we must be donor-centered. But in doing that we have a ton of work and a good deal of investment ahead of us. New metrics with with to judge the outcomes of our service mission, and new infrastructure for fundraising and reporting to our donors what they are accomplishing through our work; these are the tasks on which we should focus to keep our donors giving to our causes.

Board members, executives and fundraisers need to think more about their donors than they think about their own needs and those of the organization they represent. But they also need to invest in new tools of infrastructure and capacity-building. Which means, in turn, that resources will need to apportioned differently and we need to scrap the idea that "every penny should be given to program."

There will be more on this theme, stay tuned.