Friends,
I was listening to one of several local public radio stations yesterday morning, and I was struck by the urgent tone of their fund drive. Shades of the old days...when on-air fundraising constituted begging and haranguing and creating the false dichotomy of "send us money or we'll shut down this station." It always reminded me of this great National Lampoon cover (believe it or not, I recently mentioned it to a bright, young professional, and she said, "I didn't know that National Lampoon had a magazine").
Fundraisers are more than ever being swept up into the urgency of meeting financial goals, so much so that good principals are being ignored. The desperation I heard yesterday as this station was struggling half-way into an hour of Morning Edition and needed to raise $800 to meet a $1300 goal made me shudder and switch over to music on my i pod. While I don't think that anyone could have forecast the current state of our economy at the beginning of the year, the hopeless frenzy of their tone led me to doubt the fiscal soundness of their organization.
While we're all watching the stock market in disbelief, and while this may be the most dire financial crisis we've seen in a long time, philanthropy should hold its own--historically it has during other major financial setbacks. The last thing nonprofits should do is suggest that their own financial underpinnings are too weak to hold. Why would any donor invest in a sinking ship?
I certainly wouldn't sugar-coat the messages; being clear about your need for financial support in order to provide your service to the community can be a powerful and compelling message in itself without the histrionics and hand-wringing.
I'm a fan of marketing whiz Seth Godin, who recently posted in his blog:
Challenging times require innovation and an eye towards opportunity. This applies equally to the nonprofit sector as it does to for-profits.Inc. magazine reports that a huge percentage of companies in this year's Inc. 500 were founded within months of 9/11. Talk about uncertain times.
But uncertain times, frozen liquidity, political change and poor astrological forecasts (not to mention chicken entrails) all lead to less competition, more available talent and a do-or-die attitude that causes real change to happen.
If I wasn't already running my own business, today is the day I'd start one.
Talk to you soon!
Bob
