Love your donors

Fundraising is a service to donors.

It's easy to forget that as we struggle to meet budgets. In fact, it's an unpopular truth in nonprofits, which are founded to accomplish something other than fundraising.

But it's true. And if you keep that truth in your heart and mind, you'll serve your donors better. And raise more funds.

Larry James, President of Central Dallas Ministries, recently wrote about this in Texasnonprofits: Asking for money vs. caring for people. James (who also writes a blog that's worth a look, Larry James' Urban Daily) gets it:

I've noticed when I communicate to a wealthy donor that I care most about his story, her journey, his hopes and her mission, our conversations turn inward and go deeper. These conversations allow space for "safe reflection" and processing along a path of personal and community growth. I've come to a place where donations just aren't the point.... Loving wealthy people is all about understanding and listening and really caring. Just like loving poor people.

He's talking about face-to-face conversations with high-end donors, but the principle is the same no matter who your donors are or how you're talking with them.

Fundraising is about donors. When you help them care enough to give, you help them connect with who they are -- or who they aspire to be. You ennoble and empower them. You make their hearts sing. You even help improve their emotional, physical, and financial health!

I've known fundraisers who dislike donors. I've known even more who dislike asking for funds. Those were not successful fundraisers, because they never grasped the beauty and power of what they were doing. If you don't embrace that, your fundraising will always be stilted, off-point, and ineffective.

Love your donors. It's the best way to work. And it's more fun that way.

See also Your other good deeds.

Thanks to Gift Hub for the tip.

Technorati Tag: philanthropy

Comments

[Jeremy Gregg]

Indeed, Larry does 'get' it. But his understanding of how to treat donors is truly based in his understanding of how to treat people: he looks at the poor not as having needs, but as having assets that can be leveraged to build community. His leadership has helped CDM to build the largest food pantry in Dallas by recruiting volunteers from among the people who rely on its services for food.