I. Fundraising Follies: Forgetting the Story
II. Resource Spotlight: WeReview
I. Fundraising Follies: Forgetting the Story
It seems so much of our time in the nonprofit world is what I call “present-future focus.” Our organizations can see the present and know exactly what we’re looking for in the future.But this present-future focus can cause us to forget the past.Â
Without the past, we wouldn’t have a present.
One of the reasons I love fundraising is that we get to learn the stories of our organizations. We also get to tell those stories to any and all that will listen. Everybody has a story to tell. And you’d be amazed at how willing they are to tell it.
I consider one of my unofficial titles to be “Keeper of the Lore.”
Asking the story is “right” on so many levels:
- We prove to donors, and ourselves, that we are moreinterested in people than their pocket books.
- We honor the hard work and sacrifices that people made forour organizations.
- We get to tell these great stories to the people that arecurrently working in the organization.
I’m sure there’s more. It’s incredibly rewarding to see people thoroughly enjoy remembering the past. And there is a fundraising payoff: the whole time they’re remembering, they’re selling themselves on the how much they love our organization.
Although you won’t make a solicitation during this meeting, this could set the stage for any sort of ask, including planned gifts.
One more thing about telling the story: if your organization has donor plaques up, make it your role to be sure that they never get lost. So many times we change our facilities to meet our expanding needs. This is right and good. But we forget to honor the memory of the donors that sacrificed in the past. Find some way to make sure the plaques are taken care of.
Have fun keeping the lore!
II. Resource Spotlight: WeReview
I know I keep talking about CharityChannel, but it is an incredible resource. One of my favorite parts of the CharityChannel site is the WeReview section. With so many books being published that it’s hard to keep up.
WeReview helps. Here you can check out reviews of the newest books written by our colleagues around the world. And my favorite part: if you sign up for the WeReview newsletter, these terrific reviews can be delivered to your inbox.
To your extreme fundraising success!
