Roger Craver, one of the founders of the fundraising
agency Craver, Mathews, Smith & Co, currently provides insights through his
fundraising blog, The Agitator. Back
in 2011 he posted an article titled The
Future of Fundraising. It was based upon Blackbaud’s recently released report
Growing Philanthropy in the U.S. The report contained reams of helpful
recommendations and insights. A lot has happened since 2011. Osama Bin Laden is
off’d, Occupy Wall Street begins,
Muammar Gaddafi is killed, the Sandy Hook massacre takes place, the Japan
tsunami wrecks havoc, Prince William and Kate Middleton marry, and NASA’s Mars
rover detects evidence liquid water once flowed on the red planet. Where stands
fundraising? Were the Blackbaud recommendations heeded? You be the judge.
Here are a few of the top takeaways from the report and
Craver’s analysis (minus some of his entertaining but salty language):
• Redefine
Relationships. Stop being
selfish. Focus on giving for giving’s sake.
• Re-orient toward longer-term measures of
fundraising performance.
Immediate measure of ‘success’ (response rates, immediate ROI, giving totals
for the year) doom us. Look at long-term values.
• Enhance focus on retention and building
supporter loyalty. Listen
up! With retention rates in the dumper too few nonprofits really understand
that a 10% improvement in retention results in a 200% improvement in lifetime
value. Time to get real.
• Develop a more integrated approach to
fundraising. It’s not the
method, stupid, it’s the message. And the message must focus on the
donor’s concerns, not yours.
• Break down organizational silos and
encourage greater collaboration between teams. The authors are too kind to say it, but you
should be ashamed of your territoriality.
• Give supporters greater control over the
relationship. Ken Burnett,
The Agitator, DonorVoice and scores more have been preaching this for years.
This is the arena where you can quickly add the most value.
• Tackle high turnover rates in the
fundraising profession. Face
it. It’s not the pay it’s the lack of respect from CEOs and board members that
drives folks out of this trade. We have an identity crisis and have to deal
with it.
• Educate all stakeholders about the necessity
of a longer term and integrated approach. I know, I know, it’s like playing Mozart to a cow, but we have to do it.
It’s a real challenge, but we must not allow Boards to be stupid about
fundraising, stewardship and philanthropy.
• Empower the regulators to enforce 100
percent filing of Forms 990 to increase their utility. Hey, I know this seems picky, but the fact
is that some organizations don’t file, some lie, some don’t. Transparency
is key to the future of philanthropy. Get with it.
• Blow the whistle on organizations claiming
to have zero costs of fundraising. As long as watchdog organizations reward ‘zero’ costs, organizations
will lie. It’s time to call out the phonies in the watchdog groups and blast
the nonprofits that play this game. There simply ain’t no thing as ‘zero’
fundraising costs.
• Encourage nonprofits to develop complaints
schemes. Anyone who knows
anything about donor retention and commitment is familiar with the importance
of feedback. (See http://thedonorvoice.com)
This report reminds us of the absolute necessity to provide multiple methods
for donor feedback.
• Develop new and more appropriate measures of
performance. Efficiency
and cost of fundraising sucks as a measurement of anything. There are far
more appropriate measures.
• Develop the self-regulation of fundraising. Ethics be damned. There’s a whole host
of scumbags out there. But, we can do something about them.
• Encourage the adoption of monthly giving. Serious Monthly Giving or Sustainer
programs produce 600% – 800% more revenue. Get to it. Now!
• Encourage and promote best practices in
social media. Importance
of social media isn’t $, it goes to building loyalty and commitment.
• Encourage asset-based giving. The Report claims that 93% of a person’s
giving potential is realized with a bequest or other planned gift.
Get at it!
• Improve the quality of bequest fundraising
practice. Death is our
friend. But, with at least 8% of our donors willing to make a bequest, this
just has to be taken out of the incompetent (marketing-wise) hands of planned
giving officers and placed in the hands of those capable of selling.
• Redesign the system of professional
development and certification for fundraisers. Important stuff here. Knowledge and
understanding of donor behavior is key for the future, not the number of
AFP merit badges.
• Educate board members about the intricacies
of fundraising. Among
all the barriers to successful fundraising and philanthropy, the ‘board’ is the
mightiest barrier and pain. This report rightly targets the boards for
education and improvement.
I’d say all of these would
make the list of priorities for 2014.
What say you?
