Your donor forecast: Cloudy with lots of despair

Wow — the world feels pretty dark and gloomy for progressive donors right now.

You probably guessed that. But I know it for a fact.

I know because we run Insight Panels — a hybrid research and cultivation service that offers monthly opportunities to listen to donors — with a variety of organizations across environmental, social justice animal welfare and international verticals.

We’ve been offering this service for five years now — and we’ve never seen donors on the verge of such despair. The intensity of gloom right now just feels different.

But herein lies the opportunity. Despairing donors are looking to the organizations they support to provide a light in the storm.

In our Panels, donors are asking for glimpses of hope. They want to know that they aren’t alone in this mess. They need reminding that we’ve weathered difficult times in the past. They want to see a path out of the muck — where they feel stuck.

You, like me, are probably a little gloomy too. But don’t forget that your role is to inspire as well as engage. You should comfort as well as call to action.  You can assure as well as provoke.

We all need someone we can lean on. And your donors need to lean on you right now.