Uncomfortable fundraising

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12 July 2011

Uncomfortable fundraising

Jonathan's blog asks a great question about fundraising: Should we Make em uncomfortable?

Jonathan says fundraising should make people uncomfortable. And I agree.

But his question made me realize something: A lot of fundraisers spend enormous energy trying to make sure their work causes nobody any discomfort whatsoever.

This is why so much fundraising is watered-down, namby-pamby, dull -- and unsuccessful. Large committees are assembled to sniff out and destroy any semblance of emotion or anything else that might raise an eyebrow.

Real fundraising creates discomfort -- it makes it clear to a donor that something needs to be done.

Posted by Jeff Brooks on 12 July 2011 at 08:07 | Permalink

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The future of fundraising is not about social media, online video, or SEM. It's not about any technology, medium, or technique. It's about donors. If you need to raise funds from donors, you need to study them, respect them, and build everything you do around them. And the future? It's already here. More.

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Jeff Brooks has been serving the nonprofit community for more than 30 years and blogging about it since 2005. He considers fundraising the most noble of pursuits and hopes you'll join him in that opinion. You can reach him at jeff [at] jeff-brooks [dot] com. More.

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12 July 2011