Maximizing Revenue, Minimizing Competition

Have a fundraising challenge you want to crack? Weary of doing the same old, same old yet hoping for different outcomes? Do you want the over-the-top results that come from superior strategy?

Email me with your particular problem, and I’ll arrange a quick consultation offering you a practical solution you can implement. I may even use your situation to share with my readers. Names are changed, of course!

McKenzie recently took me up on my offer for a brief consult. It was a pleasure to speak with her. She’s the director of development for an organization that has multiple fundraising outreach initiatives.

Her challenge is an all-too-familiar one. The challenge for her organization is not too many fundraising programs.

It’s the attendant results of all of these programs running on their own rails independent of the others.

Everyone wants to be successful. Everyone wants to raise the most money. Absolutely nothing wrong with either of these goals.

The rub comes when those running the programs—or worse those setting goals for these programs—lose sight of who is really driving the results.

What McKenzie is seeing is perhaps the only time an organization can be in competition for donors. They’re in competition with themselves.

Each of the fundraising programs McKenzie described to me during our conversation has its own, individual goal, its own measure of success, which is independent of the other fundraising initiatives or the overall revenue results.

The results are predictable. She’s seeing the building of silos. The “not with my donor base” outlook. And yet, all of these people are presumably on the same team. I say "presumably" because that’s not how they currently see each other.

The other outcomes from this intense rush for the max in each program?

Donor fatigue and stagnant revenue growth. Continue this state of affairs long enough and you’ll see worse: donors leaving, renewal rates tanking, overall revenue declining. And when that happens, please, please don’t blame it on “too many nonprofits” fundraising!

Remember who is driving the results. Principle 1 of The Eight Principles^™ is "Donors are the Drivers^®." Donors are driving the train. Fundraising outreach must be constructed with donors in mind if it’s to deliver sustainable and scalable philanthropic revenue.

Not every donor will give to every fundraising appeal. Don’t expect them to. Don’t even give them the opportunity. The No. 1 negative expressed by donors, year after year, is too-frequent solicitation.

So, how do you change this situation?