Just finished listening to the latest podcast from Fundraising is Beautiful entitled Back from the brink: How a sick organization got better. It is over twenty-six minutes, but the first ten is worth it.

In discussing how he addressed the dreaded death spiral of an ineffective fundraising strategy, Chris Doyle, President and CEO of American Leprosy Missions revealed that the problem was their disregard for the fundraising basics.

By “fundraising basics” of of course am referring to the donor cycle. In the interview Doyle states that, for his organization,”the donor cycle was neglected. [...] It was money and people passing through rather than a comprehensive donor plan which included the cultivation of these donor and retention of these donors.”

Don’t marginalize the importance of stewardship and cultivation.

In my experience Doyle is right on target about how organizations behave as they realize they are in a death spiral. “When organizations get into crisis… they run around looking for the silver bullet that’s going to solve all the problems rather than just stopping, stepping back and assessing ‘what are we doing wrong here and how do we fix that?’ rather than looking for some new idea or something that is going to fix things.” I have seen this trend more times than I care as organizations respond to decreased donor interest and support.

It’s not the economy, it’s how you treat donors that invest their philanthropy in your organization. If things are looking bad, focus on the mission. If your fund raising efforts don’t connect directly to the mission, they aren’t sustainable.

The Agitator cites two research studies regarding consumer brand loyalty and positive experience. The studies emphasize the need for an opportunity to directly interact with products.

Tom Belford asks the question “How can you provide a some kind of “touching” and “experiencing” of your organization?”

This goes back to my mantra “people give to the mission.” All elements of your integrated philanthropic plan (e.g. identification to stewardship) should link the donor back to the mission in a personally meaningful way. Are you sending thank you notes? Why not print note cards (blank on the inside) that proudly display the artwork of a staff member/program beneficiary/donor on the front and tell their story on the back?

Nonprofits should always be looking for a way to reengage constituents with the mission.

Jeff Brooks at the Donor Power Blog discusses how to think less in terms of  getting “millions of contacts” and more about knowing individuals and discovering their passions.

Credit to Dave Ormsbee for the term “millions of contacts.” For he is the master of this approach to fundraising.