Scaling the Brick Wall

Published on Monday, December 01, 2008
ARTICLES

Ugh. You'd become so confident about meeting this year's fundraising objectives.

And then, Wham! The economy hit a brick wall.

What to do?

First, it might be prudent to convene a meeting of your management team to discuss the current financial situation, its implications on your budget and cash flow, and what you should be doing?What should you be doing now - and next year?

This is no time to ease back on building and strengthening the relationships you have with your supporters.On the contrary, it's probably an excellent time to build the relationships even further.After all, this is about the long term.

Ask yourself, how is your current work relevant to folks? Are you possibly a lot of background noise and chatter, or are your opinions timely and helpful? Social psychologist and author of The Psychology of Persuasion, Bob Cialdini reminds us of the importance of authority in persuasion.You are an authority in your work, and that's how many of your supporters see you. Are your supporters saying: "Wow, did you see what Group X is saying?This is the very reason I'm so proud to support them," or "Hmm, I'm surprised Group Y's information on the subject at hand seems like such a low priority and to be a typical knee-jerk reaction."

Major gifts? Yikes, not a good time, huh? Uncertainty has a tremendous adverse effect on major-gift giving. Put yourself in your donors' shoes. They probably don't believe they have to make that contribution today. Show your donors you understand their concerns, and even allow them to defer making their gift. Or, figure out the best way to communicate the continued relevancy and importance of the special project you'd like them to fund.

Foundation giving? After the tech bubble burst in the late 1990s, many foundations that had overinvested in high tech stocks had to dramatically cut back giving. I'm not suggesting this is a comparable situation - but it very well might be. What happens when the asset base has been cut nearly in half? This might not be a time when a foundation will take on new groups to support. How do you find out? Call someone at the Foundation and ask them, before you invest countless hours in a proposal that will never get off the ground.

Corporate giving? Yikes again.
Everything might be fine. But there also might be a very good reason why your contact at the ABC Corporation is not taking your calls as you try to sell tables to next week's annual dinner. Try to find out if your sense of your own continued relevance matches their understanding.

And direct mail?

• Be cautious with your prospecting.You might have seen red-hot test results three months ago, but now might not be the time to rollout to every possible additional name. Act carefully.

• On housefiles, you might be okay.You might see a drop, but your housefiles could be the very key to sustainable revenue for you.This is no time for I-told-you-so's, but present circumstances underscore the importance of having the broad and diverse funding base that direct mail can provide.

Finally, please remember that your needs are not necessarily your supporters' needs. Telling a panicked entrepreneur or investor that you need money because your revenues are off might lead to having your name cursed out loud.This is an excellent juncture to step back and try to understand your donors' needs, rather than just marketing your own.

Kevin Gentry is vice president of the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation and director of special projects for Koch Industries. Write him at kevin.gentry@kochind.com.