[Warning: rant in progress]
Hang around me for any length of time and you’ll hear me rant about the awful tendency of those of us in nonprofits of getting entitled.
Sit in the back office of just about any nonprofit, and you’ll here people slip into talk that donors “owe” us the same size of gift they’ve given in previous years.
This has to change.
Donors earn their money. It’s theirs to do with as they please.
We need to earn the gift every single time. Even if we’re doing the most important work in the world.
We are responsible to do our mission with excellence.
We are responsible to track our wins and loses.
We are responsible for involving our donors in the work we do.
We are responsible to tell our story with incredible persuasion and power and convince them it is the most important work in the world and it is worthy of their investment, again.
And we must be continually asking current donors, “Who on your
- bowling team,
- carpool,
- morning commute,
- garden club,
- golf club,
- board of directors, etc.
would like what we’re doing?
It’s up to us to earn the gifts each and everytime we ask. And to be grateful for each and every gift we receive.
[the rant has come to a completion]
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7 responses so far ↓
1 Andrea // Sep 12, 2007 at 11:22 am
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
I was starting to think that I was the only fundraiser out there that felt the same way about this entitlement attitude. It seems to be quite pervasive in the fundraising circle and in articles/letters to the editors in a certain Philanthropy chronicle
.
Thank you again for reminding us, it all comes down to “work”.
2 Marc A. Pitman // Sep 12, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Thanks Andrea!
You’re not the only one.
I’m pleased with how many “amen”‘s and “yes”‘s this post has received!
3 The Extreme Fundraising Blog » Fundraising Secret #4: You’re NOT “begging”! // Sep 25, 2007 at 10:38 am
[...] got pretty passionate about last week’s blog post about not getting “entitled.” I equally passionate about Fundraising Secret #4: [...]
4 The Extreme Fundraising Blog » Fundraising Secret #5: Use Blue Ink // Oct 9, 2007 at 2:29 pm
[...] last couple Fundraising Secrets (Nobody owes you anything and You’re not begging!) have been quite intense. So I thought I’d take it down a notch [...]
5 Why would someone NOT donate to your organization? | Step By Step Fundraising // Jul 14, 2008 at 8:19 pm
[...] Pitman comes right to the point in his blog post titled Nobody “owes” you anything: Donors earn their money. It’s theirs to do with as they please. We need to earn the gift every [...]
6 What if nonprofits did fundraising like the Big 3? | FundraisingCoach.com // Dec 11, 2008 at 11:56 am
[...] nonprofits seem to forget that nobody owes them a gift. We need to earn the donor’s trust each time and be transparent about how we report [...]
7 Fundraising Secret #29: Ask businesses | FundraisingCoach.com // Dec 16, 2008 at 9:31 am
[...] as you’re asking, please remember that nobody owes you anything. Businesses are feeling a pinch now, so they may have to be more creative or flexible in their [...]
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