Donor Power Blog: Don't create fundraising that you like

Jeff Brooks, creative director at Merkle, blogs the following about a donor-centered approach to direct mail: "It's not about whether or how much we like something that matters. It's whether or not it works."

More here at the Donor Power Blog:

Don't create fundraising that you like
http://www.donorpowerblog.com/donor_power_blog/2008/12/dont-create-fundraising-that-you-like.html

What is this all about?

"Where your gifts coincide with the crushing needs of the world, there lies your vocation." - Jim Wallis

Philanthropy is the world's greatest force for catalyzing social change. These blogs are dedicated to the FundVisors who play an essential role in facilitating that process.

FundVisors are fundraisers who have abandoned the role of "marketer" and accepted their noble calling as philanthropic advisor.

FundVisors are not in the business of raising funds for their own organizations: they are champions for charity itself, connecting donors to meaningful opportunities for personal transformation. In this way, they seek to build genuine community among those who seek to share their wealth with those who can use that wealth to improve our world.

It is not simply that we must be the change that we wish to see in the world.

We must also empower others to change themselves.

Does anyone care about Bill Gates?

I was intrigued by this recent letter below from the CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It revealed a side of the Master of Microsoft that is rarely discussed: 

The human side.

Bill Gates is worried about the economy. He is worried about the effect it will have on his foundation, its grantees and the people they serve. 

What is the message here?

Bill Gates is just like the rest of us. He is a person with dreams and fears, questions and ideas about the best answers for those questions. 

So often, we think of our biggest donors as nothing but a check book... massive bank accounts floating on the top of our prospect list. 

How many capital campaigns throw in Bill Gates as a prospect just because he is rich and they have some kind of seven-degrees-to-Kevin-Bacon connection to him? Do any of these folks think about things from Gates' perspective?

Read this letter and imagine that it is from your top donor. 

Consider the ways that you are not thinking about him/her as a person with thoughts like this, but merely as an ATM or checkbook. 

I promise you, that is not how your donors see you. They are not thinking about you just as a charitable beneficiary, but as a real partner in their own life missions.

Consider what the Gateses themselves say about the origins of their newfound lives as philanthropists:

"We created the Gates Foundation in 2000 because we believe in the principle that every human life has equal worth."

Every life has equal worth. Staff, volunteers, clients, donors... all equal. This is what your donors think.

Is that what you are practicing?

After you read this letter from the Gates Foundation, challenge yourself to pick up the phone and call one of your donors just to let them know that you were thinking about them. Let them know that you appreciate them, and hope that they are doing well.

Let's get back to what this whole business of philanthropy is all about: Loving our neighbor.

A Letter from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation regarding the economy and their foundation
Press Release

November, 2008

The financial crisis is affecting everyone, from our foundation to our partners. We know that it has hit our grantees, and the people they’re trying to help, especially hard.

Non-profit groups rely on steady funding to carry out their work, but with an uncertain economy and a volatile stock market, funders are having an increasingly difficult time meeting their commitments. Like all of our fellow foundations, we’ve been thinking a lot about what the downturn means for our work, and would like to explain our perspective on what we are doing:

Stay focused on our issues
We’ll stay focused on the core set of issues where we think we can do the most good: increasing opportunity in the United States—primarily through education—and improving health and fighting extreme poverty in developing countries. Within these areas, we’ll continue to follow the evidence. We will make grants in the areas where the data tell us we have the best chance to make the greatest impact.

Even as we make our own grants, we also try to encourage other funders, such as governments, businesses, and other foundations, to do their part. This advocacy is especially important in tough times. When government officials write next year’s budgets, it may be tempting to cut back on the very programs our grantees care most about. We will continue to advocate, within the legal limits on lobbying, for funding and policies that advance the work we’re doing with our partners.

Grow our payout
We are planning to grow our payout in 2009 by about 10%. This is lower than previously planned, but represents the commitment of our co-chairs’ and leadership to our mission during a difficult time.

Keep operating costs low
We have always tried to be great stewards of the resources that have been entrusted to us. Even as we work to make sure that every grant dollar goes as far as possible, we also strive to keep our operational costs low. I have asked our employees to reduce expenses wherever possible, and we are closely scrutinizing our budget.

Continue learning
There’s still a lot we don’t know about the effects of the economic downturn. How will it affect the budgets of the cities, states, and nations that we work with? What about multilateral organizations like the United Nations and the World Bank, and what about the businesses whose innovations are critical to improving people’s lives? We are working with all of our partners to understand these issues better in the coming weeks and months.

It is important to underscore that we remain hopeful about the future. Bill and Melinda Gates are great optimists. They know how much better the world has become in the past century, and they’re confident that, even with the challenges we face today, life will continue to improve for billions of people.

Jeff Raikes
Chief Executive Officer

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Jeff Raikes and co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.

Welcome to ListenTheGift.com

In his book "Asking," Jerold Panas observes that one of the primary skills of an effective fundraiser is the ability to listen:

"The person who listens influences the outcome, not the talker. You are in charge. Listen!"

This blog explores the practical ways that fundraisers can make the shift from seeing donors as checkbooks to seeing them as clients... as people with dreams, desires and ideas that need to be heard.

Only the donor can talk themself into the gift; it is our duty to listen that gift into being.

This blog is part of the FundVisor.org network of blogs.