Too infrequently, unheard voices and various levels within our organizations include:
- Lapsed donors, whom we too rarely seek out, even if we can’t get them back, just to learn what we missed and could have done better
- Estate givers whom we have not given ample opportunity to share the stories of what animated their lifelong philanthropy
- Major gift donors whom we have not asked their primary reasons for giving or their major hopes after doing so
- Annual givers whom we have not asked annually what we can do to continue to earn their trust
- Younger generations and more diverse voices seeking new ways of difference-making and more equitable philanthropic compacts
- Frontline fundraisers who hear and see the unmet needs of current and would-be donors
- Gift officers who see the growing futility of asking for unrestricted support and institutional subsidization
- Fundraising leaders who see the greater good that can be achieved when fundraising agendas are shaped conversationally, not unilaterally
- Nonprofit leaders seeking to shift their boards’ fixation with “more dollars” to building broader communities of shared purpose and thereby more sustainable support
The more we seek to hear these voices, the more closely we listen, the more genuinely we validate them, the more we create a culture of philanthropy. The less we hear them, the more we let community erode.
Jim Langley is the president of Langley Innovations. Langley Innovations provides a range of services to its clients to help them understand the cultural underpinnings of philanthropy and the psychology of donors and, with that knowledge, to develop the most effective strategies and tactics to build broader and more lasting communities of support. Jim has authored numerous books, including his most recent book, The Future of Fundraising: Adapting to New Philanthropic Realities, published by Academic Impressions in 2020.
