All systems with donors decay. All systems suffer from entropy. Your best moves plans, reports, and even measurables are not enough to have a deep connection with donors.
Why? Because giving is a heart issue, and no system created can capture and fulfill deep heart issues.
Donors need more than a newsletter to feel connected. They need to engage in the cause so that the act of engagement does more than just transact money. It needs to feed those deepest heart desires....
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Yes, donors grow tired--but not of giving. Giving builds people up. It turns on our passion juices and makes us better people. Giving produces joy and a deep sense of meaning and satisfaction. But, if giving is so good for us what makes donors stop giving?
Rebecca Ruby notes that people stop giving because they are not fatigued but they are tired of being poorly treated by the nonprofit. Instead of treating them as a donor who matters, nonprofits treat them as ATMs and flood them with...
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Donor fatigue is a fundraising adage whose time has come to be sent to the burn pile. How did we ever come up with such an offensive idea? Let’s look at some simple terms . . .
Donor Fatigue— Donors will get tired of hearing about the same need over and over again and then stop giving, or they will run of out of passion for our cause and stop giving. In other words, “We are not raising any money—let’s blame the donors. We can call it donor fatigue.”
Philanthropy, by definition, is the...
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There seems to be a lot of dialogue these days about the skill of listening, what it means, and how to do it well - or not. What does listening mean to you?? Fundraiser Jeff Brooks in his article, 'Easier Said Than Done: Three Laws of Fundraising Dynamics' says that listening - and I paraphrase - is partly a matter of shutting up so that you can hear donors talk. Hmm. As ministry supporter or champion, would you feel warm and fuzzy about chatting over coffee with this guy?? Then there's...
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