BIG’s Blog: The Silver Bullet Approach

From the Wikipedia online encyclopedia, the definition for 'Silver Bullet' is as follows: "In folklore, the silver bullet is supposed to be the only kind of bullet for firearms that is effective against a Werewolf, witch or some other monster."

What’s your biggest monster in fund raising today?

In the world of nonprofit fund raising, we are familiar with the Silver Bullet concept too. It goes like this . . .

“My donations are down, but if we just had a better Web site.”
“My donations are down, but if we just had an up-to-date database.”
“My donations are down, but if we just used email blasts.”
“My donations are down . . . " Okay, you get the point.

The nonprofit fund raising world is so chronically overworked and understaffed that there is little time to:

S-T-O-P, take a breath and look at the big picture.

Rather than a silver bullet, a better approach is to find a trusted advisor that can help you work through some long-range and focused questions like . . .

1. With all the technology changes, how does that affect your fund raising?
2. How does the current generational shift affect your fund raising?
3. How will increasing competition affect your fund raising?

It is so easy to buy things . . . Web sites, databases, etc.

But if you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.

Don’t substitute silver bullets for a plan.

First, develop a plan.

Then buy what you need to make the plan work.

-Mike

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