Donor Fatigue, Part 1 |
Aug 6, 2009 |
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 love of mankind. Is donor fatigue when philanthropists love less? May it never be! In fact, donor fatigue is a myth.
Stephanie Strom, in an article after Hurricane Katrina says that many people are dismissing donor fatigue as a myth. After Katrina, everyone was worried that donor fatigue was certain, but people weren’t tired of giving. The donors I talked to were energized. The nonprofits were worried that their donors would run out of the desire to give or run out of their money to share but these so called fatigued donors gave billions more to every nonprofit sector.
The problem isn’t fatigued donors, but faithless and fatigued fundraisers.
Donor fatigue implies that giving wears people out. The truth is that giving energizes and strengthens people. It improves quality of life rather than drains and fatigues. Jesus said, “It is better to give than to receive.” He did not say that people who give, or even over-give, will get tired and fatigued.
It’s time to rethink the whole idea of fatigued donors.
