Connecting the Dots
In a moment of madness, we adopted a puppy several weeks ago. I don’t know what we were thinking beyond how cute she was, how bereft our border collie, Tramp, had been since our Minnie died. How bereft WE were. So we welcomed Willow to our home.
Alas, cute isn’t the only thing one should think of.
She is cute. And smart. And totally and completely untrained. And Geoff and I are possibly the worst people to tasked with training a dog.
For starters, we both work full time. And while dogs need structure, especially when learning new things, neither of us is particularly a structured person. In fact, the word chaotic comes to mind.
The other thing one must do when training a dog—especially when you are inside trying to teach her to use the outdoors for her elimination needs—is attention. You really want to catch them in the act so you can scream NO! And take them outdoors. It is a really good lesson. But we tend to notice only after the deed has been done, and since we don’t believe that things like rubbing their noses in their mistake is not a good idea, we tend to shrug, say mildly, “oh Willow,” clean up the mess and hope that she somehow connects the dots
Connecting the dots is hard for puppies—and for a lot of people, too. Thinking things through, seeing the unintended consequences of an action (or inaction!) is not something most of us do well.
Not following through on something you said you would seems pretty insignificant in the scheme of things, but I can almost guarantee that if you have neglected to follow up with one donor, you’ve neglected to do it with another. And another.
I’ve just admitted that I’m not a terribly structured person. But I am someone who is very goal oriented. With Willow, I am too focused on where I want her be, rather than helping her to get there. When I realized that I had to break it down into manageable pieces, we were able to get to a satisfactory conclusion.
Fundraising, for example, is a process and understanding that process and what each piece must look like makes you understand that asking is the least of it. You don’t just identify a likely donor, you have to first understand what a good donor for you looks like for this project, this amount of money, this timeframe. It varies and you must be flexible enough to see who fits at what part of the fundraising puzzle.
After you identify, you need to learn about the donor—but what you need to learn is different for a small annual giver than it would be for a mid-level donor and very different for one you are cultivating for a major gift.
Cultivation, of course, must fit the type and size of the gift you will be hoping to receive. Let’s be real: I’m not taking someone out to a $40 lunch if the gift I am going to be asking for is $75. How much I spend both in time and in actual dollars will depend on how much cultivation the donor will need in order to say yes and, importantly, be consistent with the size of the gift I’m anticipating.
Moreover, I really do need to match their philanthropic needs to ours. For major donors, I need to truly build a relationship and understand what motivates them. For those smaller donors, I need to track how they have given in the past, what type of appeal appealed to them, and at what time of year were they most likely to say yes.
Once they say yes, I must continue to cultivate, though we call that stewardship. It means thanking them for their generosity and also making sure they understand the impact of their gift. How has it helped move our mission forward?
The rates of donor attrition are appalling. Six out of every 10 donors stop being donors in the following year. And that, alas, is because we stop connecting the dots for them.
To reinforce lessons I’m trying to teach Willow, I give her love and treats. Make sure you are doing at least that much for your donors.