Jason's Blog

The least effective gift officer pays a lot of attention to the scoreboard.  “How does it work?”  “Are all the lightbulbs inside the scoreboard working properly?”  “Are those lightbulbs the best colors?”

The average gift officer pays a lot of attention to the score.  “I should get credit for that goal!” “The score doesn’t reflect how hard we played....

This fundraising analogy is bad, not because we shouldn’t be seeking new donors (i.e., the “different pond”) but, rather, because we shouldn’t view fundraising as a fishing expedition in the first place!

We aren’t hunters.  Donors aren’t prey.

We don’t “lure or hook donors.”

We don’t “extract donors” into our institutional support boats.

This ...

A direct mail annual giving solicitation receives a 4% response rate.  Is that good?

If the solicitation was sent only to donors who have given in each of the last 3 years but have not yet given this year, we might respond discouragingly: “No, it underperformed.”

However, if the solicitation was sent only to non-donors as an acquisition strategy, we might r...

If an advancement team is raising $1.5 million for their annual fund on a goal of $1.5 million, we might observe, “that’s good – they’ve met their goal.”  It doesn’t seem like they are doing anything outstanding, but they are doing what is expected.

This is the “how high” question.  How high did we get toward reaching our goal?

But, when we realize tha...

We lose the narrative if we believe our primary role is to:

ask people for money; or, say thank you to donors; or, visit with donors; or, become friends with donors; or, invite people to events; or, seek feedback from donors; or, recognize donors publicly for their support; or, identify new potential donors; or, educate people on the importance of our mission.

While ...