Time for Fundraisers to 'Shift & Reset'

Part of the reason I wrote it was to get people thinking about these challenges in a certain way so that when they did go forward with the more strategic and tactical efforts that other very smart people have suggested, they'll actually realize the promise.

The second part is I'm frustrated, I'm angry. I've been doing politics and public affairs and digital strategy around all these things for 15 years now, and we're not moving the needle. I think the obsession with social media and the obsession with the surface-level pieces of the conversation about what's possible in the digital age is getting us further away from having a real impact.

I'm angry because the world is burning, and I'd like to see us actually end hunger or find a real cure for AIDS or whatever it is that we need to do. Whatever I can do to contribute to that, I wanted to do. Writing a book seemed like a natural opportunity.

FS: Why do you think the needle hasn't moved? What's holding people back?

BR: Some of it is that change is hard. There are a lot of reasons to think that building a big list or raising a lot of money or generating a ton of awareness around a serious issue is going to be of value. And it's not to diminish at all that in many cases awareness or fundraising are helpful, but I think that as long as the focus is on what I would call the activity metrics, then we're not ever going to be able to truly determine whether or not we're reversing the trajectory of some of these problems.

People like to do things that they know and they feel safe and comfortable doing, so asking people to change is going to make them uncomfortable.