My summer reading list has included several good novels, a few rock ‘n roll biographies, and With Charity for All by Ken Stern. I won’t pretend I enjoyed reading Mr. Stern’s book as much as a history of the Allman Brothers Band, but it was a good and, I believe, important read.
Stern suggests that the nonprofit sector has created a charitable marketplace that undermines its very effectiveness.
Our fundraising techniques center around emotional pleas and easy-to-understand results. Why? Because donors respond to these things.
“…the market incentives of the nonprofit world push charities toward happy anecdote and inspiring narrative rather than toward careful planning, research, and evidence-based investments, to crippling effect,” says Stern.
How can we scale up our programs if we always have to deliver the happy story and only the happy story? Where’s the room for error? What’s the incentive for risk taking?
There’s been tremendous progress in the last 20 years around nonprofit reporting on program outcomes.
I believe we’re now at another turning point where we have to get more comfortable with reporting on honest outcomes in the context of experimentation and scalability.
This is the only way we can attract real investment that will ultimately support the change we’re seeking to make in the world. And, it will surely help donors understand the need for investments in both program and infrastructure.
Not all our donors want to hear the details of our strategic plan, our failed experiments, and our program development trajectory. But many do.
One of the most important points in Stern’s book is that it’s awfully difficult to be a discerning donor because the information needed to really assess effectiveness is so limited.
So, I ask you: what are you doing to attract the investor donor? The one who gets what it takes to try new things, to refine your work, to chip away at a problem until you really and truly have it solved.
You may not be ready to plaster all of your outcomes, good and bad, all over your website. But, you can certainly be starting a different type of dialog with your donors. One that celebrates inquiry and rewards every step along the path to change, whether it’s one step forward or two steps back.
Start by understanding your own journey and then share it with your prospects. Invite them to join you for the ride — the whole ride. If you’re in it together, the whole dynamic changes for the better.
For further thoughts on how to invite your donors on your journey, check out this earlier blog.
