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Money Matters: Why a Good Nonprofit Fundraiser is Hard to Keep

Money is only part of the story of why fundraisers leave

Money is only part of the story of why fundraisers leave. The real culprit is the underlying culture of scarcity.

What’s love got to do with it?

Show me the money.

Some year’s ago the Chronicle of Philanthropy published an article about the need to Shake Up Development Offices and Curb Turnover. The article cites Penelope Burk’s five years of research which culminated in her groundbreaking book, Donor-Centered Leadership, as well as a revelatory study, Underdeveloped, by CompassPoint and the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund that found half of chief development officers planned to leave their jobs in two years or less. And 40% planned to leave fundraising entirely.

What’s going on, and how can you fix it?

Is it about money, or something else?

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Leave a commentCulture & Values
Greek woman wearing laurel wreath

From ‘Resting on Laurels’ to Leading with Vision: A Nonprofit Guide to Moving On

Are you planning to do, more or less, the same thing you did last year for your year-end annual fundraising push?

I mean things like:

  • Recycling the same appeal letter
  • Mailing to the same list
  • Failing to segment your list
  • Failing to clean up addresses and de-dupe your list
  • Using the same donation landing page
  • Mailing only one appeal letter
  • Sending only one or two emails
  • Failing to link to your appeal on social media
  • Failing to ask your influencers to share with their peers
  • Failing to actively encourage recurring gifts
  • Failing to suggest specific ask amounts
  • Failing to ask major donor prospects in person
  • Failing to plan ahead to send a prompt, personal thank you
  • Failing to have a donor love & loyalty plan in place to retain your supporters
  • … the list goes on!

I was moved to write this article after attending an excellent local production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Sunday in the Park with George.”  I found it surprisingly moving, especially the final musical number: “Move on.” And, being me, I was able to relate it to something I find all too common in nonprofit work.

It’s something insidious. Something that kills innovation and inexorably drains spirits.

It’s almost a disease.

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Leave a commentAnnual Giving, Strategy & Management