Fundraisers who don't give don't get it

Good point from Seth Godin at Watch the money.

... if you work for a non-profit and you don't give money to charity, what exactly are you doing in this job? I've met some incredibly generous people in the charitable world, but I can also report that a huge number of people -- even on the fundraising side -- would happily cross the street and risk a beating in order to avoid giving $100 to a cause that's not their own. And the shame of it is that this inaction on their part keeps them from experiencing the very emotion that they try so hard to sell.

A lot of fundraisers (the ineffective ones, anyway) don't realize what they're "selling." They think they're selling how great, effective, modern, cool, and admirable their organization is. That's not it at all. They're actually selling giving.

They might figure that out if they'd give regularly to all kinds of causes. Giving to your own organization feels smart. It's what's expected of you. It's not very much like giving to others.

So if you want to really get fundraising and have insight into donors, be a donor yourself.

Comments

[Patrick]

I couldn't agree more with your point on giving to other causes. I think it can be taken further to argue nonprofits should be encouraging (or even requiring) staff to volunteer with other organizations to be a part of what we are asking people and companies to do for us.