APPEARANCES ARE DECEIVING

A couple of weeks ago, my wife Kathryn and I were driving by the reservoir in Leeds, MA. The surface of the lake was frozen and snow covered. The scene was quiet and peaceful; nothing seemed to be stirring. However, the spillway at the end of the lake gave lie to the appearance. The spillway had a full course of water flowing down its face and into the stream at the bottom. Under the still, frozen surface, much was going on.

While the surface of philanthropy in America might not be described as tranquil – and it certainly is not frozen – profound shifts are underway that will change our fundraising practices in the time just ahead. First , donor attitudes and expectations are changing. No longer is it just the thirty-somethings that have heightened expectations of the organizations to which they give money.

Nearly twenty years ago, we saw a shift as more and more donors began to designate gifts. Today, the unrestricted gift is one of the most difficult of all to secure. Even the donors of small annual gifts are asking, “How are you using my money? What difference is it making?” Today’s donor wants to not only designate her/his gift but also to receive a much improved accounting of how the gift has been used and what difference the gift made in terms of the life of the organization and the persons that it serves.

Contemporary donors also expect the transparency of mission and benefit to extend to the affairs of the organization. From calls for socially responsible investing to candor about salaries and benefits, donors want the organizations to which they give to exercise candor in their reporting and values-consciousness in their decision-making.

Contemporary donors also want to be more involved in the life of the organizations to which they give – particularly when significant gifts are involved. The old-fashioned chicken and peas thank you dinners still have their place, but donors are much more interested in being on-site, contributing volunteer time and having direct contact with those their gifts are serving.

As fundraisers and non-profit executives and board members, we can enjoy the fact that philanthropy continues to grow in America. But this can leave our organizations lulled into complacency by a false sense of calm. Or we can tap into the philanthropic energy that is flowing below the surface and enter a vibrant new world of expanded fundraising capacity and donor engagement.

What are you doing that taps into the new energy of philanthropy and philanthropists? How has your organization changed the way it does business to incorporate new energy and new directions in philanthropic fundraising?