Future Fundraising Now

There's a real world, too

Want to meet in real life in the next month or so? Here are a couple of chances:

I'll be at the DMA New York Nonprofit Conference, August 24-25. I'll be on a panel called "Top Nonprofit Bloggers Tell It Like It Is" (along with Katya Andresen, Roger Craver, Sarah Durham, and Karen Zapp) and also a session called "Lessons from Haiti: What is the Future of Text Message Fundraising."

About a week later, I'll be speaking at the Australasian Fundraising Forum in Sydney, September 1 and 2 -- thanks to Pareto Fundraising. (Download the PDF brochure here.)

If you can be at either of these fine events, let me know.

If fundraising isn't important, you won't survive

How important is fundraising within your organization?

Is it a necessary evil?

Is it the red-headed step-child?

Is it an honored and celebrated part of what you do?

I've seen all of the above. And let me tell you: The more fundraising is respected and integrated with the organization as a whole, the better that organization does -- financial and otherwise.

Fundraising is absolutely necessary to make all our good works possible, but it's more than that.

Fundraising is noble and good, but it's more than that.

Fundraising is just as important as program, but it's more than that.

Fundraising is itself a Good Deed of the highest order. Because it motivates people to become more conscious, evolved, effective, and integrated. No matter what else your organization does, if you are raising funds, you are making the world a better place by soliciting donors for funds.

The organizations that grasp this are the ones that will be raising the most money. Those that don't will fade away in the coming years. I know this will make me sound like a Republican, but market forces will take care of this for us. The clueless nonprofits will fail; the excellent ones will succeed. It's that simple.

The magic bullet isn't very magical

I get the question all the time: What can I do to make my fundraising better? As if there's one thing. That works in all situations.

If there is one thing, it's something like you'll find at Too Busy To Fundraise, Fundraising's Magic Bullet. Here it is:

... pick one thing from the many that have been discussed, parsed, dissected and tell your board or your staff that THIS is the magic bullet. Commit to it for a significant period (three years if it is an annual event; perhaps less time if it occurs regularly—for example, we will each have two meetings a month for the next seven months). During that time, assess results. Tweak method.

That's right, just stick to a smart plan.

I don't think that's what the folks who ask the question want to hear; they really want some magic. But it's true.

In fact, it's even worse than that. The thing you should stick with? I can pretty much guarantee that it's something old-hat, tried-and-true, and totally unsexy. That's just the way it is. If you don't have the patience and discipline to work that way, fundraising is not for you. Funny thing -- neither is almost anything else.

Donor's opinion can lead you astray of the facts

There's a vital difference between facts and opinions. Knowing that difference often separates floundering, confused, opinion-based fundraising programs from successful programs.

Here's an example of an opinion that flies in the face of facts: It's a blog at Third Sector, a UK publication for nonprofits. This anonymous blog is written by "Felicity Donor," who's described as "a professional young woman [who] gives to charities." She writes about "which causes she chooses and why."

It's often interesting to hear what donors say about their giving. You can get useful insights. But you can also get badly misdirected by their opinions. As you would if you believed what Ms. Donor says at Charities should not waste their money on fluffy thank-you letters to donors:

... why would I want to be patronised with a soft, fluffy letter thanking me for my help? I fund the charity because I want it to do research, and if they're spending my cash on that rather than a letter, it's fine by me.

She's more than welcome to her opinion. But she's wrong about the need for thanking. Every piece of donor research ever done shows us that prompt and heartfelt thanking leads donors to get more involved -- and failure to do so depresses subsequent giving. Furthermore, she's probably also wrong about her own need for thanking: She reports that she'd rather see her giving go all to the cause -- but she's clearly a bit nettled by the lack of response to her generosity.

Either way, Ms. Donor's self-reporting is her opinion. If you take it as a fact, you will seriously damage your fundraising program.

A lot of nonprofits are easily swayed by opinions, and fail to check those opinions against the facts. The difference is often vast. And it matters.

How many people are likely to give -- now and in the future

Here is one of the most important charts you can look at. It's at the newly launched Fundraising Growth Now! by my colleague at TrueSense Marketing, Jon Van Wyk.
What this chart shows is the number of people in the US between the ages of 55 and 85, divided into generation groups. This matters to us, because that's the age of the overwhelming majority of donors to charitable causes.

It's based on US population (Census figures). The total number of people in the group is 72 million today, and it rises to 120 million in 2050. These are US numbers, but the general shape is close to what you'd see throughout the developed world.

Draw a vertical line along any year and you can see which generations are (or will be) in the prime donor demographic at that time.

• This year, 2010, the Boomers (born 1946 through 1964) have edged out the Silent Generation (born 1925 through 1945).
• For the next 10 years, the donor-aged population will be split between Silents and Boomers, with Boomers increasing every year, and peaking in 2019 at 71.7 million, or 79%.
• In 2020, Generation X (born 1965 through 1979) starts to appear in the donor age group. At this point, both the Silent and Boomer groups are decreasing, while the GenX group grows. GenX doesn't overtake the Boomers in size until 2033.
• When Boomers leave the stage in 2050, Gen X is waning and Gen Y (born 1980 through 2000) is dominant.

Remember, these are not necessarily donors, but the part population most likely to donate, based on their age. Your mix of donors is probably different from this -- most likely tilting much older than what we see on this chart.

Some learnings

• We have just entered the era of Boomer dominance of the giving demographic -- an era that will last until 2033. If you haven't figured out Boomer fundraising, you'd better get it quick.
• Generation X is coming, but they're ten years away, and won't dominate until 2033. It's probably early to start panicking about what their presence will mean, but sooner or later you need to start thinking about it.
• Generation Y doesn't show up until 2035 and won't Dominate until almost everyone reading this is retired.

More at Demographic Shift to Impact Fundraising.

Tips for a terrible nonprofit website

In case you want your website to be really, really bad, here are some tips from the Talance blog, at 15 Ways to Create a Horrible Non-profit Website. Here are a few of the 15:

• Let everyone on your staff and board give feedback on your design, and apply everyone's preferences.
• Put someone in charge who doesn't care about the website.
• Make your mission statement about six paragraphs long and put it front and center of the homepage.
• Hide the donation forms. It also helps to make it really hard to use.
• Don't apply any kind of strategy to the site. Just throw it up and assume you'll get support.
• Put up a bunch of unrelated pages with an unclear and incoherent message.
• Design for your board members (or yourself) rather than your audience.
• Make your decision on a web developer based on cost alone, assuming you don't always get what you pay for.

Go read them all.

How to raise millions through Twitter

The above headline is what you call "link bait." Furthermore, it's completely misleading. Not only because I'm not going to show you how to raise millions through Twitter, but because there really isn't any known way to raise millions through Twitter -- other than getting very lucky. Link bait works because it attracts people to new, faddish, cool things.

Twitter is a shiny object. It's easy to get people to look at it, even obsess about it. And while there are perfectly good uses for Twitter -- and maybe even funds to be raised -- you (yes, specifically you) are going to make a lot more progress by looking more at the unshiny object.

See this great post at the Infomarketing blog: Beware Of The 'Shiny Objects'.

Ignore the shiny objects and instead hone your core direct marketing and advertising skills. Because every productive minute you spend today doing this can pay dividends for years to come.

Concentrate on the proven stuff. That's how you'll find yourself in the position to use the shiny objects.

The different way of persuading Boomers

One distinct characteristic of the Boomer generation is a tendency toward individualism, as pointed out at the Engage:Boomers blog, at You Better Be Marketing To Me.

Rather than accept the marketer's version of why a product is good, they'll often want to internalize before they agree:

Boomers ... want to answer "What's in it for me?" by determining for themselves the benefits of your product or service. If you tell them what the benefit is, it should be talked about in such a way that they can modify and personalize it....

Fundraising, which has been developed for and shaped by the older generations, has followed the older marketing model, which tells people how and why the product is good.

With Boomers now making up nearly half of the ranks of donors, we need to work on the other way of persuading:

• Present the problem their gift will solve -- emotionally, of course.
• Present the solution, emphasizing effectiveness and impact. Connect a dollar cost with an outcome.
• Be urgent.
• Let the donor internalize why she should take up the cause.

Good fundraising offers purpose to donors

Or go watch it here.

This talk is by Simon Sinek, author of the book Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action (available at Amazon and at Powell's).

His main point: "People don't buy what you do. They buy why you do it."

Are you telling donors just what you do, or do you bring them on board with why you do it?

Are you assuming they give because you have really cool programs? Or because of the passion that brings those programs to life?

Take a close look at your messaging. If it's all about your what and your how, you are missing the opportunity to ignite deep and lasting support. The world is full of organizations -- companies, governments, clubs -- that float on their "what." It's so boring. So uninspiring. People -- everyone, including you and me and all our donors -- are looking for purpose, passion, and connection.

You can offer it. If you will.

Religious organizations have a natural advantage, as why is usually built in to faith communities. But even religious organizations have to go to the trouble to talk about why, and to say it well.

Really, that's one of the most important things you do -- give donors more why. Don't cheat them, or yourself, by staying on the what. Why-motivated donors will give more often, give higher amounts, stay with you longer, and be part of your team in every other way. Because they'll be your partner in making life not only better, but more meaningful.

Fundraising From Yourself

Here's my column in this month's FundRaising Success magazine, Fundraising From Yourself.

Teaser: You are properly proud of your work and your organization. In your eyes, the facts about your organization's excellence, your superior methodology and your glorious history are all utterly compelling. It just isn't compelling for donors. Remember, donors don't give because of who you are; they give because of who they are. That's why effective fundraising is all about donors, not us.