I’m Ticked Off!

• They do want more information — but it's not the detail suggested in the article.
• Their No. 1 concern is efficiency. They gave examples of how they research organizations to make volunteer decisions and donation decisions. Interestingly enough, they had different definitions of "efficiency" — the lowest was 15 percent for fundraising/management, and the highest was 40 percent. We had a healthy discussion around what was perceived to be "appropriate" according to some of the watchdog entities in the industry.
• They were equally split whether they, at this time in their lives, found it easier to give money versus give their time. But all of them wanted to make sure they were aligned with brands that were doing the best job possible with their particular missions.
• Granted, these are young people in law school, but the concept of acquisition metrics vs. renewal metrics was not a hard concept for them to grasp. They got it completely. It made sense to them. And, they were not bothered by it because — guess what — they are concerned about the bottom line and not about the campaign-by-campaign decisions made by people who are professionals.

So, as you can imagine, I felt much more rooted in my original feelings and opinion, which then just put me right back to the place of being ticked off. As I stated earlier in my article, I am not blind to the bad organizations that operate at terrible efficiency levels. But the old saying, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater, comes to mind.

Furthermore, while I'm not worried about a bunch of donors reading the Chronicle of Philanthropy article and becoming concerned about some of the reputable, amazing brands mentioned, I do believe that there is a bit of sensationalism that is occurring in the media around this topic. This article was written in a publication that is primarily for nonprofit executives and leaders. I'm all about challenging ourselves as an industry to be better, more efficient and clearer with our supporters on how their donations are being used. And, yes, I would like to see nonprofits that are doing a poor job of stewardship put out of business — but the bottom line is what counts in my eyes.