BIG’s Blog: Competition in Fund Raising

Do you believe that fund raising is competitive?

As recently as 1997, the Internal Revenue Service listed 690,000 nonprofit corporations or foundations. By 2010, the number was over 1.5 million. And, of course, this 1.5 million doesn’t include all of the unincorporated local organizations that raise money.

With or without competition, what is the key metric typically sited for fund raisers? Most boards or councils would say that the number one metric is, "Did you raise more revenue than last year?" All the fund raising ways and means still focus on this one key metric.

But, focusing on that metric without getting into the numbers and information below the numbers puts the organization at great risk for the future.

We can probably assume that most of the donors giving to your organization also give to other nonprofit organizations. The question for today is, "How many of your donors would consider your organization in their Top Five of organizations they regularly give to?" "The Top Three?" "The Top Two?"

How many of you know the donor's names who consider your organization their #1?

How many stories have we all heard of the donor that regularly gave ten or twenty dollars a year for years and years and then left a bequest of a million dollars or more?

How do you know if you don’t ask?

Exactly!

-Mike

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