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.

Hat tip to Arrested Development for the post title inspiration.

I learned at an early age the power of the written note. My parents taught me that a well written note must be sent promptly but show thoughtfulness. It also must be personal but brief. My work in the nonprofit sector has proven to be no exception to this rule. I try to write a personal note for every gift regardless of the amount or designation.

Over the past six months I have increased the thank you effort and strive to spend as much time thanking donors as I do researching prospects and asking for support. I have learned that left piled up for more than a couple weeks, the task of thanking can become overwhelming. If done as gifts arrive it can be rewarding personal reminder of why the mission is so important and valuable exercise to increase donor retention.

Over the past three months I have noted that gifts have increased, both in amount and frequency. Considering the economic context, this as quite remarkable. Thanks to Tom from The Agitatior for helping reienforce the value of the thank you.

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.