Lose Their Trust, Lose Their Support

All too often we focus on what our donors can give us and, as a result, forget to think about what we can give them. I'm not talking about coffee mugs, t-shirts or other trinkets. I'm talking about giving donors confidence that their gifts are being used exactly as they specified. It takes an enormous amount of trust to hand somebody a large sum of money in return for an agreement that it will be used exactly as promised. All the legal documentation in the world won't matter if your donors can't trust you.

The trust a donor places in a nonprofit extends well beyond the 'letter of the law' or the words in a gift agreement or other materials. It's also about the spirit of the agreement. We owe our donors our best work when it comes to stewarding their support now and in the future. Anything that erodes the trust of our donors will have a lasting effect on the ability to raise funds in the future, and that goes beyond explaining that 'technically' the donor's gift agreement was followed.

This post started forming when I was told recently of an organization's plans to conduct a solicitation that, in my opinion, risks undermining the trust of its donor population. I won't get into the details, but while the strategy behind the solicitation would have met the 'letter of the law' threshold, I felt the end result would cross a line and cause donors to second-guess the organization's commitment to following donor intent. I was asked what I thought of the idea, and I can assure you my answer was more strongly worded than this blog entry!! A word of warning: if the word 'scheme' ever enters the conversation, the idea is usually a bad one.

In this age of extreme scrutiny of both corporate and nonprofit organizations, anything that blurs the lines of honoring donor intent should be avoided at all costs. The responsibility that comes with administering funds on a donors' behalf is one that should be taken quite seriously at all times. Anything a nonprofit might do that undermines its integrity isn't worth the long-term damage to relationships that could result. Not to mention, it's just wrong.

I'm reminded of those situations where a large corporation promises to give all proceeds from sales on a given day (or of a certain product) to a particular cause. When you read the fine print, often you'll see that the amount will be no more or no less than $xx,xxx. So really, the purchase has no effect. A gift will be made regardless of consumer behavior. In that example, it's not the NPO's fault, but rather a situation where the advertising by the corporation isn't exactly honest. It's great publicity for all involved, but the gift was going to happen no matter how many widgets were sold. I'd prefer they just say 'We're giving $20,000 to this organization because we believe in it." I don't like being tricked into doing anything. But that's just another rant I could start.

Nonprofits do great things every day - we feed the hungry, provide shelter for those in need, finance educational opportunities for the best and brightest and on and on and on. Tell your story and find donors who are willing to support your mission. Show them how their gift made a difference. Be transparent. Give them specific examples of how you fulfilled your end of the deal, and they'll give again. Tricking them into supporting things they aren't interested in or fail to use their contributions as they wish, and they won't.

And then they'll tell others not to, either!

Lose Their Trust, Lose Their Support