Folly #80: Old and New
Years and donors may be in alignment.
Evolutions, More and Less
Welcome to 2025 and our third year of the Funder Follies. Like my wise friend
says: all good things must evolve. And wisdom from another favorite writer encourages us to think of more/less lists, instead of New Year’s self-ultimatums.In the Follies I write about how difficult it is for nonprofits to get grant funding. The truth of the matter is that it is so difficult, that I don’t write grants anymore. (Embrace the irony! Through my work at Community Grantwriters, I offer all kinds of fundraising training and templates, including for grants, but my hands-on work with nonprofits helps them diversify revenue by engaging more individual donors.)
In this beloved day job, I also focus exclusively on helping small-staffed nonprofits build sustainable revenue. I teach. I coach. I offer free fundraising brainstorms. I share tools and knowledge I’ve learned over 30 years as a fundraiser, because …
Small nonprofits are amazing!
Yet you wouldn’t believe some of the stories about how difficult it can be for them to fundraise. So here’s what you can expect in the year ahead:
More storytelling about the everyday nonsense of trying to raise money to achieve a bold mission with a small staff.
More interviews and other perspectives.
More comments. (Indulge me!)
Less grants stuff.
It’s still the Follies. If we didn’t laugh about it, we might cry.
New Year, Younger Donors
Now on to today’s Folly…
Father Time of 2024 has made way for this year’s new generation. It makes me reflect on conversations I heard repeatedly in fundraising networks just prior to year-end.
It’s important to send a mailed year-end appeal letter. Donors respond to it.
Our donor base is aging.
Doh! It sounds like the real strategy here is:
Sending a mailed letter to inspire a year-end gift is a great way to get older people to give.
And we’ll just leave it up to the younger people to support nonprofits in whatever way they do, because we’re not really sure how that looks.
Gratitude that the fundraising profession is ever evolving. I love this work because I’m constantly learning.
At 61, I’m an old person. But even I give online and make recurring monthly gifts to provide year-round funding to nonprofits I support. Rather than go into another tizzy about the wasteful, annoying volumes of junk mail, er, direct mail appeals, I’m just going to put it out there.
Reaching younger donors means that we fundraisers embrace a new medium. Maybe even several.
Isn’t it time to evolve away from direct mail?
Here are some places we can start…
Leverage AI. In his Follies interview, Nathan Chappell shared some exciting tools to help us get there by using AI as a resource in customizing donor communications.
Hire a young person to help you reach younger donors. Fundraising is not rocket science. Someone who can communicate (by all means, use tools like Grammarly!) and keep things organized can learn to be a great fundraiser.
Other ideas? Let’s hear them!