Something happened to me pretty much as soon as we hit “publish” on last Tuesday’s post about “the 3 steps to using measurement to make you a better fundraiser.”
I was deluged with memories of people telling me that they’ve done all three steps and were now raising significantly more money… but somebody in the organization was requiring them to “change it back to the way it used to be” because the new way made them uncomfortable.
I even have a friend who two weeks ago was told, “I know we’re raising more money than we ever have, but as of today you need to go back to the way we used to do things.” (To add insult to injury, they were also told that a) they couldn’t send out the year-end appeal they’d prepared, and b) they were going to have to send out less fundraising next year.)
So it’s pretty clear that just the three steps I advocated for aren’t enough.
Here’s the 4th step…
#4 – Trust That There’s No ‘Catch’
Maybe better said, “trust that the increased money coming in is not going to be followed by some ‘gotcha!’ in the future.”
Because here’s the thing – there’s no catch.
If the following three things are true:
- The information in your fundraising is true,
- You have consent to tell your beneficiaries’ stories,
- You’re Asking, Thanking and Reporting during the year…
…then there are no hidden fees, no submerged rocks, no cliffs, no balloon payments. No mysterious “gotcha’s” are going to come due.
If you’ve developed new messaging that is driving more giving, it’s because you’re tapping into what motivates your donors better than you did in the past. Trust that the fundraising data (response rates, net revenue, average gift size, etc.) that led you to the new messaging will continue to lead your organization to greater and greater impact.
