Nonprofits call it being understaffed. Donors call it being ignored. One of those framings is accurate. The silent “no” is not a bandwidth problem. It is what happens when someone reaches out — to volunteer, to donate, to host a fundraiser, to make an introduction that could matter — and receives nothing back. An auto-reply, … Read more
The nonprofit sector taught your board to sound rehearsed and then wondered why donors don’t give again. The elevator pitch is one of the most durable pieces of received wisdom in the nonprofit sector — and one of the most reliably counterproductive. The premise is seductive: distill your mission into thirty seconds, deliver it with … Read more
Leadership thinks donor retention is a fundraising problem. It’s not. It’s a leadership problem. And confusing the two is costing your organization a fortune. Here is a number that should bother you: 43%. That is the sector-wide donor retention rate, per the Fundraising Effectiveness Project’s most recent full-year data. Forty-three percent sounds almost survivable until … Read more
Every year, many EDs and Boards look at the budget gap and decides development will close it. They write down a number. No one asks if it’s real. This is magical thinking, they call it budgeting. Annually, in budget meetings across the nonprofit sector, a number gets written down. It is arrived at by combining … Read more
Charitable giving in the United States now exceeds $590 billion annually. It is the third largest industry in the country. By raw dollars, philanthropy has never been healthier. And yet…donor retention has hovered below 50% for over a decade, according to the Fundraising Effectiveness Project. Total donors are declining. For every two donors an organization … Read more