Which Is It? Money or Donors?

Your job as a fundraiser is to raise money and for the last forty-four years that’s what you and your colleagues have done. Very successfully.

In the three years when there were declines, none of the blame can be placed at your footsteps, the crash of the stock market (a couple of times),the 2008 mortgage debacle, or the 2009 recession.

Take Your Pick

If the “higher-ups” at your nonprofit are looking at the declining number of people who give and putting pressure on you to grow the volume of active donors, I feel for you.

And I think they may be making a very costly mistake because fundraisers can either bring in more money or more donors, but to do both is extremely difficult.

Why? Good question that I think has an answer that will make sense: donor acquisition has become increasingly expensive and when coupled with donor behavior that is trending in a different direction, well, that’s a really tough double whammy.

Donor acquisition is more difficult today because the competition is more intense and, at the same time, donors are trending towards supporting fewer causes.

After all, it does cost money to find donors and it costs money to keep the ones you already have. So, if you’re feeling pressure to increase the number of donors who support your cause, the money to do so will have to come from somewhere. Tell me, when was the last time your CEO said to you, “Here’s a whole wheelbarrow full of money so you can find new donors.”  Like never? That’s what I thought.

In fact, your decision-makers who want more donors and more money are probably highly sensitive to the cost of fundraising in general. That leaves you in a borrowing-from-Peter-to pay-Paul dilemma.

My suggestion here is that it would serve you better to devote those funds to holding on to the donors you already have.

That’s why your decision makers shouldn’t make your job any harder than it already is. It’s advisable that they give you and your team what you need in order to inspire first-time donors to give again, and to motivate already-loyal donors to give increased gifts.

In my opinion, what fundraisers like you need from leadership is a compelling priority to give, backed up by evidence that your organization is ready and able to make great things happen.