Thanks to more than 260 annual giving program managers from around the world who participated in The Annual Giving Network’s 2012 Survey. This important study will provide us with new data on the characteristics, trends, and best practices in the field annual giving today.
The survey’s final report will be available starting on May 21, 2012. Click here to request your FREE copy today!
Join more than 100 of your colleagues at the 2012 Northeast Annual Giving Conference this March 20-21, 2012 on the campus of SUNY Oneonta in Oneonta, NY. This two day conference will address some of the most important trends and issues facing annual giving professionals at educational organizations today.
Registration is only $100 and speakers include industry experts such as Penelope Burke, Bob Burdenski, and Jerry Smith. Click here for more information or to register.
The Annual Fund is a place where money goes before it’s spent on something important in the very near future. In philanthropic cultures, it’s often viewed as a symbol of what the organization values most. When describing it as a priority, it should always be capitalized.
Annual Giving, on the other hand, is a behavior. In philanthropic cultures, it’s viewed as an expectation and its importance is widely understood. When the math is done right, it provides an organization with an amount of support that can reasonably be expected from its community year-in and year-out. And while it doesn’t always need to be capitalized, it does always need to be talked about.
Annual Giving (like hair style) has trends. Some trends are good, because they give us an opportunity to rethink our programs. The proliferation of mobile phones, for example, certainly creates an opportunity for us to rethink our call centers and to make them more efficient, virtual, and productive.
But other trends only end up distracting us from the fundamental principles that have guided our industry for decades. Mobile phones could just as easily fall into this category too. It’s great to reach your prospects in new ways, but you won’t do much fundraising if you forget how to build substantive relationships with your supporters.
It’s 2012. Do you watch the trends in annual giving? More importantly, do you know the difference between and one that creates an opportunity and one that creates a distraction?
In 1998, the hit sitcom Seinfeld called it quits after 9 seasons, 180 episodes, 10 Emmy Awards, and an immeasurable number of laughs. At the time, many questioned the decision to cancel the show when it and its actors were still at the top of their game. Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David must have understood that not enough is better than too much when it comes to a good thing.
Finding the line that separates not enough from too much is important in annual giving too. Not enough attempts to reach your prospect by phone and you may miss them on the one night that they’re actually at home this week. However, too many “missed calls” on the caller id and they may get irritated and ask to be removed from your list. Not enough words in your appeal letter and your case won’t be clear. But too many words and even an interested supporter may not have enough time to read your appeal.
And so it is this line that we look for and redefine ever year, every week, and every day. Because we’re not in the business of more – more letters, more calls, or more visits. We’re in the business of better – better ideas, better dreams, and better lives.
More isn’t better. And sometimes, it’s just too much.
