Why donor-focused fundraising doesn't work

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12 July 2022

Why donor-focused fundraising doesn't work

Almost everyone says donor-focused fundraising is a good thing.

But look into what exactly donor-focused fundraising means, and one of your most common findings will be this:

So-called donor focused-fundraising is fundraising with a style and approach that the fundraiser feels good about.

Which isn't donor-focused at all.

In fact, it's probably donor-ignoring. Possibly even anti-donor fundraising.

When you really focus on donors, you slam straight into the truth that you aren't your donors and your donors aren't you -- thus aiming at them means missing yourself. And vice-versa.

True donor-focused fundraising will probably not appeal to you. That's one of the ways you can tell when you're getting it right: It's not tickling your fancy. It seems corny, simplistic, and old-fashioned.

Donor-focused fundraising really is the love-fest it's cracked up to be. Just not in the way many fundraisers want.

(This post first appeared on April 26 2017.)

Posted by Jeff Brooks on 12 July 2022 at 08:23 | 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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