If the past few weeks are any indication, it’s going to get worse before it gets better. But I’m hoping that we’ll be able to somewhat get back to normal sooner rather than later.
I’ve been working from home for over 15 years, so for me personally, that’s nothing new. What is new now is that I’m putting my yoga mat in my office, and I turn on my computer to participate in my barre class, using cans of soup as weights and laundry detergent as my kettlebell.
A good thing nobody else is watching. And an even better thing that the internet is working, and the power is on! Things could be a lot worse.
I just finished Dan Heath’s book: “Upstream: the Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen.”
As a fundraiser who deals with processes for direct mail, monthly giving and any and all problems associated with it, this was a wonderful read.
I come across the three barriers to upstream thinking all the time: problem blindness (this will not happen here), a lack of ownership (nobody feels responsible) and tunneling (oftentimes focused on one problem, not being able to see other opportunities).
You may ask, why am I talking about this book? Well, because I still see a lot of downstream/reactive thinking in nonprofits and tons of hesitation and delay when it comes to monthly giving.
If there is ONE time that monthly donors can make or break your organization, now is that time!
Fortunately, I have some good news: Now may be a good time to ask for monthly gifts. I just worked with an organization that sent out an emergency email. They included two buttons — one aimed at monthly gifts and one aimed at one-time gifts. And turns out, it worked really well. The organization not only got a nice number of single gifts, but a healthy number of monthly donors as well!
Your donors want to help! It’s OK to ask now, and giving donors the option to make smaller gifts could be particularly welcome.
You have the tools to offer monthly giving, why not use them? Or would that be thinking upstream too much?
By the way, if you have some extra time, here are two more great books to put on your list. I’ll be reviewing those soon:
- “How to Create Lifelong Donors Through Monthly Giving” by Harvey McKinnon
- “Donor Care: How to Keep Donors Coming Back After the First Gift” by John Haydon
This blog was first posted by NonProfitPRO on March 23, 2020.
