#189 | Perhaps consumerism is not the right framework for fundraising?
Why do we always banter over the question of whether fundraising is like sales, or insist that it’s more akin to marketing and PR? Regardless of what side of this senseless debate we’re on, the donor is always in the seat we’ve assigned them: the consumer. My conversation today with Audra and Kelly really got our wheels turning and evolved quickly into an all-out assault on those who are content with fundraising as merely a consumer science. This frame of thinking leads us to form a very dysfunctional relationship with the “no” and prevents us from affording our donors the patience that can ensure genuine and meaningful relationships before we attempt to get into their wallets. The consequence of all this is that a large majority of fundraising professionals are not having meaningful conversations with their donors; because they are not encouraged to do so, they don’t really know how. This absence of meaningful conversations forbids us from creating places where fundraising can thrive. As Audra and Kelly aptly point out, all this dysfunction hinges on our boards’ and bosses‘ fixations with short-sighted metrics that deliver on efficiency, predictability and control. As always, we are grateful to the support we receive from OneCause. As mentioned during the break, if you’d like to talk to Theresa Lee or Heather Klein Olson, MBA, CFRE about our training, please reach out to one of them to start a conversation.
