OLD AND NEW
Silly things you hold on to. For me, one of those is reading my horoscope (and my daughter’s) every morning in the LA Times. This one said, “Beware of developments that are no longer about making things better, just newer. Consider the virtue in the old-fashioned way of doing things.”
There is some value in that sentiment, though old doesn’t mean good any more than new means fangled (per Miriam-Webster: a fashion especially when foppish or silly —used with new and usually derogatorily). Personally, I like a mix of old and new.
In the 30 plus years I’ve been involved with nonprofit and mostly focused on fundraising, I’ve seen a lot of changes. Much good. Some…well as my horoscope said, some changes are not about making things better.
Changes that do matter include technology—though not all technology works to a nonprofit’s advantage. Demographics have also changed. When I started as a fundraiser in the 1980’s (and when I realize that was my third career…..), we were raising money mainly from “the greatest generation.” We raised money from them by telling them what we—the organization—needed to help those less fortunate than they were. Unless we were in the arts, where the benefit was mainly to those donating funds.
Fifteen to twenty years later, Boomers were in their prime earning years, and the fundraising spotlight turned on them. As a Boomer, I can attest that what we want more than anything is love, attention, reverence. And so, donor-centric fundraising was born. No longer did we focus on what our organizations (and clients) needed. No, now the focus was on our donors. What did THEY want? What impact did they desire? Of course, this wasn’t true for all donors. It was, however, true for our major donors—those who gave our organizations serious amounts of money.
Now we are in different times. We are realizing that the color of philanthropy is no just white. We are beginning to think that perhaps what our donors want, while still important, is not the most crucial thing. Perhaps that is what our clients and our causes need is. And instead of focusing on that infamous 2%, we are starting to look more closely at the rest of us—the 98%--and are giving them (us!) the opportunity to change the world through their support, financial and otherwise.
This is called community-centric fundraising. And because it is about community, understand that it is not in opposition to donor-centric fundraising. In fact, those two—along with considering organization needs—play really well with each other. What’s changed more than anything in fundraising is the understanding that money isn’t the only thing we should be concerned with. Don’t get me wrong—big gifts are nice. But so are smaller gifts, as well as the reality that not everyone can give a cash gift, but anyone can volunteer, be an ambassador, give of their talent and their time. What makes all this special is that they are from many different communities.
To reach into these disparate communities, you first must build a diverse board. A diverse staff is also helpful.
For most nonprofits, building a board is hard enough. Full stop. Building one that has representation from different cultures, ethnicities, races, abilities, ages, gender orientation and so much more, is nothing short of daunting. But it is something that every nonprofit must commit to and work to achieve. Not tomorrow, but over time. And not by simply signifying your excellent virtue, but by doing the hard and often tedious work of getting to know other communities and understanding what they bring to the table and—this is critical—why they might be interested in sitting down with you in the first place.
What hasn’t changed about fundraising, of course, is the fact that it is still about building relationships. And you build relationships by caring about who the other person is, what matters to them, how they might fit within your nonprofit family—and then inviting them in, ensuring they feel welcomed and part of the family, and that their gifts, whatever those may be, are valued.