That quote explains why some organizations have trouble “making the leap” to their next level of fundraising success.
Too many nonprofits create fundraising that serves an internal audience. And their fundraising lets another audience down: their donors.
Here’s how this happens. An organization’s fundraising is often written and designed to make internal audiences happy. Members of that “audience” tend to be Executive Directors, the program team, the Board, or a Major Donor who is super-involved.
We can’t ever forget that their intentions are good. They’re trying to help.
They prefer fundraising to be a certain way. And they hold sway. So fundraising is created to serve that internal audience.
But… “If you serve one audience, you’ve let another down.”
The audience that gets let down is their donors.
Want to Make the Leap?
Create fundraising that serves donors and “lets down” internal audiences.
Creating fundraising that serves donors instead of internal audiences is often a seismic shift for organizations. Seth calls this “the difficult choice of disappointment.”
It’s hard to choose who to disappoint. It creates conflict. I’ve seen people lose jobs and leave jobs.
I’ve seen organizations become aware of the choice, yet continue to let their donors down. Even despite testing data that shows that donor-serving fundraising would raise more money and allow the organization to do more good!
And I’ve seen organizations who shift their fundraising to serve donors and very quickly make the leap to their next level of fundraising success.
What to Do?
For the “internal audiences” reading this, I hope you’ll make the difficult choice to create fundraising that serves your donors. Set aside what you like and what you think will work. Then research what donor-serving fundraising looks like. Follow this blog. Sign up for Free Review Fridays. Make the Big Shift. Be willing to try things that will make you uncomfortable.
I often encourage Fundraisers to do the “hard, other-centered” work of creating fundraising that generously “crosses the gap” to meet your donors where they are.
Because fundraising is supposed to be for donors. Not for internal audiences.
My 25+ years of experience tells me that if you choose to disappoint the internal audience by choosing to serve donors, you’ll raise more money and do more good.
