Be (Fundraiser) Friend not a Vulture – by The Fundraising Collective
January 10, 2014 at 11:01 am Barbara Talisman, CFRE Leave a comment
Great post by Sanne Dijkstra Downie, The Fundraising Collective
(I have edited the length of the post – full post can be found here.) Sanne makes great points on how we are or can be perceived by donors. See her rules at the bottom of the post – tack them to your wall, I have!
Sadly, fundraising still has a long way to go in becoming universally accepted as a decent, honourable profession. Another is a (real or perceived) difference between preying and benefiting. What makes someone a ‘vulture’? What makes someone a friend?
Are ‘vultures’ simply representatives of causes we are not interested in giving to, whereas friends are causes we do want to support? Or is it about behaviour? Do we fundraisers treat our donors as we would do our friends? Or better still, do our donors consider our organisations their friends?
Google obliges with some nice definition of ‘friend’:
a person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, or: a person whom one knows, likes, and trusts.
A ‘vulture’, on the other hand, is:
a contemptible person who preys on or exploits others.
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be a friend. So then – here are some of my ground rules on how to be a friend and not a ‘vulture’.
- Focus on the relationship, with mutual affection and respect.
- Be easy to like and easy to be around.
- Show your donor that you can be trusted.
- Be open about what what a donation would achieve.
- Remain a friend after the donation is made; stewardship is key.
- Remember it is all about your donor, not about you.
Entry filed under: A Better You, Fundraising, Nonprofit fundraising, Resources You Can Use!. Tags: @sanne, building better donor relationships, Fundraising, Relationship fundraising, The Fundraising Collective.
Talisman Philanthropy 
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