Many organizations are having a difficult time fundraising right now. Or rather, they are having a hard time justifying to themselves that they should be fundraising right now. They feel that since they are not a direct service organization feeding the needy, or providing PPE to front line workers, or helping maintain a roof over people’s heads, they don’t deserve to ask for money.
It is an understandable sentiment, but one that may prove to be extremely self-harmful. If you are an organization that is dependent upon annual fundraising efforts for survival, 2020 may be the most important year to be asking your donors to support you.
We know from experience that if you do not ask supporters for donations one year, it is harder to get them to engage the following year. People who are used to being asked to support you on an annual basis won’t simply stockpile that cash on your behalf. They look elsewhere to donate and give another organization the opportunity to build a meaningful relationship.
Now, more than ever, is the time to be reaching out to your supporters and engaging them to support you.
This tendency is being heavily multiplied right now since we also know that in an economic downturn, donors don’t stop giving, they simply reduce the number of organizations to which they give. They pull back and fortify the organizations they perceive to need them most.
During 2008, for example, if a donor usually donated $10,000 across five organizations, the trend we saw was to reduce the number of events they attended and possibly increase the donation per event. So a donor would attend three events and donate $10,000 to each, or two events and donate $15,000 to each. They didn’t stop giving, but they became more selective in their giving. Organizations who were able to clearly and effectively communicate the immediacy and relevance of their need were able to convince these retracting donors to fortify them, and not another organization.
Which brings us to right now: you may feel like now is not the time to be asking for money. You may feel like the right thing to do is to encourage people to support our front-line health care workers, a food bank, or another organization that is directly addressing our current crisis. It is a valid and understandable feeling, and those organizations deserve support. But so does yours.
I am a firm proponent of honest, engaging fundraising. So indulge me three questions:
Has your need become greater since the outbreak of the Coronavirus?
Do your clients need you?
Are you dependent upon fundraising to survive?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, you have an honest, engaging reason to reach out to your donor base and ask them to support you. If you answered “yes” to all of those questions, you should undoubtedly be fundraising this year.
My final thought: people want to give money to more than just one set of causes. Yes, people want to support direct service organizations; but they still want to support the arts, and their kids’ school, and…well…you.
