Expectations

If your division/department/office is anything like mine, you occasionally to consistently hear that we should have more online donors or we need a few more donors for this project or that project - send an email. More often than not, someone spends a lot of time and effort putting together an email solicitation, writing text, pulling images, putting together a nice looking appeal. The message goes out, a handful of gifts come back in and everyone remarks something along the lines of "that was less than I/we expected" or "those are kind of disappointing results. Then everyone goes back to their other projects and the whole cycle repeats a couple of months later for another dean or vp.

So why do we do it? We all know that fundraising is a conversation with give and take and the most successful efforts are those that start with it being the donors idea to support us. This knee jerk style reaction is not only not effective but harmful - it reduces the chances that those constituents who are engaged with us will actually open the next communication in our conversation with them.

So what to do? Track backwards and create some reports showing how this knee jerk reaction has worked in the past. Have them in hand for the next "emergency" conversation. Prepare a plan with multiple touch points to replace that approach. Have a template created for a letter or postcard, have a basic version of your phone script ready for editing, create a multiple contact email outline with communication components. Know what this will cost.

Keep expectations realistic. Keep communications as conversations. Keep fundraising.