5 more likely reasons than the economy your fundraising doesn’t work

By Jeff Brooks

Weak fundraising says: "Our cause is super-important, and we are the best at addressing it. Join us." Great fundraising says: "You care about this super-important cause. We can help you address it."

Donors give for reasons of their own. Their gifts flow from their hearts, their values, their quest for meaning. If you're hammering away with your brand attributes and bragging about your organization, you're being irrelevant at best — irritating at worst.

Either way, you aren't becoming part of their lives, and that means poor fundraising results.

2. You're fundraising from yourself

When you decorate your house, the right way to do it is to make it so you like it. You keep on asking yourself, "Is this what's going to make us happy?"

If you do fundraising that way, you are building failure into your program. That's because you are not the donor. What feels motivating, exciting and persuasive to you seldom connects with donors.

The truth is, successful fundraising tends to seem a bit "off" to you and me. It's simplistic, repetitive, even ugly. You can look at it and say quite accurately, "I'd never respond to that."

That's the real world of fundraising. Ignoring this truth and fundraising from yourself rather than your donors will keep you deep in recession.

3. You're chasing  the Next Big Thing

I'm going to tell you one of the darkest secrets of consultants and agencies. (They might break my kneecaps if they read this, but most of them don't have time to read.)

Here's the secret: The easiest, most dependable way to make nonprofits like you (and hire you) is to pitch the Next Big Thing. Really. Just tell 'em you can help them …