Now is the time to build a great boat

Fundraising is particularly hard right now.

If you’re not in the headlines—if you’re not being directly targeted, defunded or pulled into the center of a national or international controversy—you’re likely finding it hard to break through.

We’re hearing it from donors who participate in our Insight Panels, where we listen to donors at scale across a dozen of organizations. They’re telling us they are overwhelmed and making decisions in the moment based on whatever crisis feels most urgent.

“It’s too much to take and I have to focus on the dumpster fire issue of the moment,” said one donor. Another shared, “I’m doing more with organizations that desperately need the money now.” And yet another,  “I’ve stopped being very active because of the hopelessness of getting anything meaningful done.”

This isn’t about the importance of your mission. It’s about bandwidth and a level of chaos and competition that’s hard to cut through. I often say fundraisers can’t make the wind blow, but we can build a great boat.

This is the moment to double down on the fundamentals. A few to consider

Strengthen your monthly giving program.
Build in moments of surprise and delight to deepen loyalty.
Get sharper about segmentation, including psychographic distinctions (and fewer touchpoints for “all business” donors, those donors who give once a year and don’t engage with you beyond that).
Perfect your website usability for fundraising.
Do some audience research to understand your DAF donors and what moves them.

The conditions will shift. They always do.

And when they do, the organizations that have built sold boats will be ready to catch the wind.

Leadership