Leading and the Downturn - Part 2

Continuing our series on leading in a recession, we turn attention toward fund-raising in the nonprofit world; a never easy task that becomes intuitively harder when money is tight. A perusal of online resources plus our own experience with clients suggests six clear "to-do's" for tough times:

1. Start now. Hit your donors with your best case as soon as possible. The first request through the door often gets the gift when funds are scarce.

2. Focus on microdonations. Whopper gifts are terrific, but they don't make for a sustainable strategy to raise annual giving. Go after increasing numbers of gifts, rather than increasing the average gift.

3. Build buzz. Figure out the 2, 3 or 4 most remarkable things your organization does and promote them to all who will listen. People will still give to causes they believe in and organizations that achieve results.

4. Be transparent. Cynicism and skepticism both rise in a recession, so now is the time to be totally up-front about how you spend the money that gets raised.

5. Be optimistic. All downturns run their course and this one will, too. The winners are those who can stay the course without yielding to despair.

6. Don't reduce spending on fund-raising, even when the bean-counters argue that everyone has to share the pain. Money spent now pays both short and long-term dividends.

More on this topic to follow.