Throwing Fundraisers Under The Bus |
Oct 10, 2009 |
Back in September, I posted a blog on donor cultivation called Our Dirty Little Secret. That blog got some attention from Scott, a reader back in the Midwest, who called and said, “Dave, you threw all development directors under the bus by saying we all cultivate and treat our donors like ATMs." Scott went on to say he works hard not to treat donors like ATMs.
In that blog I said, “the fundraiser sets an intentional course to identify a prospect, cultivate that prospect and harvest a gift. The focus is on the process and the gift.” The point is that any time the focus is only on the gift or merely on the fundraiser’s process to get the gift, the focus is on the wrong thing.
Scott, I am afraid there are a lot of development directors under that bus because so many focus more on the process than on the donor. However, I must give Scott and others like him kudos for pointing out that there are many development directors who are focusing on ministry to and through donors. These people are changing the face of giving in America.
The real challenge for development directors who want to cultivate donors in a Transformational way is to create genuine relational processes that focus on building up the donor so the donor is more connected to the cause and to God. The focus for Transformation giving needs to move from the gift to the giver, and the process is more coaching and discipling than cultivating.
It is a high calling to help donors grow in giving. So Scott, I don’t see the past blog as throwing development directors under the bus, but rather, as a call to all to get out from under that bus, and for others like you to help lead others out from under the bus and these old processes that have no place in philanthropy and to create a new way of giving in America that Transforms donors and our communities.
