Breaking the (Glass) Ceiling

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You've got good cash flow and a typical mix of donors by giving-capacity. You're getting good outcomes. You've got stable financials. Giving moves toward your all-time annual high of $5 million. It's poised to go over. Then it stalls or drops.

You've been close to breaking the barrier of $5 million several times, then you lose a high-cash donor—or two. They leave for good reasons. Someone dies. Another shifts the focus of their giving. Still another suffers a family crisis or financial setback. The cycle repeats.

This is the situation of the faith-based organization for which Susan serves as executive director.

There are many nonprofits that would enjoy stable incoming revenue, much less break an arbitrary benchmark in fundraising.

Susan attributed her organization's situation to a small potential donor base. I don't necessarily see it that way.

In the few minutes we spoke on the phone, I wasn't able to do a thorough analysis, but I did pick up a few clues.

First, although Susan's organization has a good mix of donors relative to their giving capacity, the overall base is small. The loss of cash gifts from one or two fairly sizable donors will be felt.

I'm not convinced that the size of her potential donor base is as small as she thinks, however.

She did tell me about the appreciation events they have for their middle and upper-level donors. I didn't hear much about her strategies to grow the more modest ones. Nor did I hear a description of an organized donor acquisition program.