Live It, Preach It

Folks who lead and promote charitable causes almost always position themselves as change agents.

“We’re gonna fix this.”

“We’re gonna make the world a better place.”

“All we need is your investment (money).”

I find this rather amusing.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all about positive change. The world can use more of it.

What amuses me is how the proclaimers of change don’t seem to practice this in their own organizations.

They are reluctant to embrace their donors as investors.

They cling to obsolete technologies.

They keep using a tool (and paying for it) long after they know it isn’t working.

“But we’ve spent money on it.”

And they continue to spend more, despite the results. Nonprofits are notorious in not understanding the concept of sunk costs.

They continue to work with dysfunctional boards.

And the list goes on. . .

I’m not an advocate of change for change sake. But neither do I believe embracing the status quo is much good, either.

I know if don’t I change when needed, I’ll quickly become obsolete. Seems like there’s new Internet platform or app that I’m confronted with daily. Anyone still using their rotary phone?

The Millennial generation is teaching us new ways to generate solutions to old problems. Philanthro-capitalism. Social entrepreneurship.

Principle 8 of The Eight Principles™ is Invest, Integrate & Evaluate™. It’s the principle of renewal. It's the principle of continually evaluating your fundraising program, discarding what is no longer working and investing in what is. Clinging to obsolete tools or processes doesn't save you money; it costs you.

To those of us in the nonprofit world, let’s do some changing ourselves first, before we seek it elsewhere.

To your fundraising success!