Is your fundraising program really working? Today’s brief video helps you answer that question and more.
Laurence talks about a trade secret, Development Audits, and explains the process.
He also describes the conditions that signify when your organization needs one.
It’s a few minutes long, with a terrific impact.
Our recent posts have lasered in on fundraising perennials–retention of fundraising staff, annual funds, and why donors give. Another perennial stacks up as equally worthy of thoughtful commentary, and that’s the role of the chief executive officer in fundraising.
A short definition of a CEO is he or she who makes decisions. Nowadays, we recognize the value of consensus decision-making, and that’s fine. But the kinds of decisions I’m referring to are the big ones, decisions such as those made by the captain of a ship.
That disturbingly high turnover rates and low morale plague fundraising professionals is nothing new. Research going back almost two decades shows this to be true.
One study in particular found that the “average fundraiser stays on a job only 16 months.”
In fact, just last year, author Rob Webb called on us to act on fundraising turnover right here in NonProfit Pro.
The past research on turnover was best summarized by our colleague Penelope Burke as follows:
The annual fund is an internal phrase fundraisers use to refer to the drive(s) held during the 12-months of a calendar year to raise the revenue to cover your organization’s operating expenses.
Many readers of the LAPA blog have asked me if the annual fund is dead. Why are they concerned?
There are many reasons we in the fundraising industry tell one another about why donors give. They are moved by your mission, they know a board or staff member, they’ve given for years, to name a few. I doubt that all of them are true, and I especially doubt that they are all true at the same point in the giving calculus for each donor.
