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Is a day of reckoning coming for fundraisers and their employers?
Fundraisers like you are in a difficult spot.
You’re constantly being asked to raise more money by your board of directors, but you don’t have the staff, resources, or tools to do it the right way.
You’re probably overworked and underpaid.
You may be patient, empathetic to your cause, and full of good intentions. You know you need to create relationships and speak to donors one-to-one, but all too often, the demands of the position force you or your marketing staff to communicate one-to-many.
Impatience causes wise people to do foolish things.
Generic, impersonal, one-way communications may be easier for your nonprofit to distribute and may provide short-term gains, but it doesn’t pay off in the long run. It is ultimately disrespectful to donors, forcing them to hop around in search of a better experience.
The day of reckoning.
I believe a reckoning day is coming. The charitable world has changed due to technology (mostly the Internet/smartphones) and donor expectations. The older generations covered their eyes, ears, and mouths as they gave. The younger ones won’t be so trusting, or forgiving.
What will you do?
Will you embrace the change and use it to your benefit by engaging with givers in a respectful, mutually beneficial, and two-sided conversation?
If you do, revolutionary results will be accomplished. If not, the storm clouds gathering on the horizon will eventually force a change, whether you’re ready or not.
Want to learn more about what you can do about this change? LISTEN TO MY NEWEST PODCAST: FUNDRAISING CLIMATE CHANGE
Related Posts:
>>3 new phrases/concepts engagement fundraisers need to know
>>The 8 core components of engagement fundraising and why you desperately need them
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Get the book!
Feeling like your job is getting harder because donor expectations have changed and competition for the charitable dollar is growing?
Finding that the old orthodoxies and conventions espoused by so-called experts in online echo-chambers and at conferences don’t work anymore?
Want to help more people make impact by facilitating their acts of philanthropy but feel like too many obstacles keep getting in your way?
Then this book is for you.
Engagement Fundraising was developed from the perspective of a donor who discovered firsthand that the impersonal, spray-and-pray approaches of his beloved charity were not only offensive but also wasteful and ineffective. So he took action. And now, you can too.
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Outstanding comments Greg, thank you for sharing. I believe many (if not most) people in this filed of philanthropy understand what you are saying at the “gut” level, but it is so hard to break out of the rut! A constant struggle for sure. But we do need to wake up, the tsunami wave of change is building and ready to crest and then come crashing down upon the fundraising field and we need to be prepared.
Thanks Kelley. Sometimes I wonder if I’m the only tree falling in the woods.
Brilliant, Greg, and so critically important.
And you are not alone. However, since you’re apparently out there in the woods a lot, perhaps you would be able to answer a couple questions that many of us have about the behavior of bears in those woods….?
Sorry, it’s Friday afternoon at 4:10pm. LOL.
Cheers,
Mark
Ha ha… thanks Mark.