Thursday, April 25, 2013

18 minutes...


It's a small investment of your time that will have deep repercussions.

Watch this once, then watch it again, pass it on to everyone in your organization.


I am sure that some of you have been waiting for me to weigh in on Dan Pallotta's TED talk, for those of you who haven't seen it yet, I'm so happy I could introduce it to you.

It is smart, insightful, and all too true. This  is why I ask that you watch it twice. The first time will drive you to drink and the second time will drive you to think. Dan hits the nail on the head here folks and if you don't feel the pressure, watch it again. This sobering look at the state of an industry so many of us are passionate about and dedicated to is nothing short of genius. The question is, what are you going to do about it?
 
As an innovative change agent in the philanthropic arena, I am often challenged by the old guard of stagnancy, penny wise and pound foolish folks. This challenge is just fine with me, I welcome it. It provides an opportunity to educate, inspire, annoy, and surprise at every turn. Not every innovation needs to be revolutionary, it just needs to be effective and executable.


I hope that last week's release of the Pulse of Donor Relations survey white paper and data has now equipped you with some fact based data. Inspiration doesn't favor those who sit still, it favors those who are daring. I challenge you to be daring!


You don't have to make seismic shifts to be a change agent, you just have to not settle for the status quo. For example, we build donor relations plans and implement ideas all of the time without first finding out what the needs of our audience are. As witnessed in the Pulse data, only 18 percent of respondents have received comprehensive feedback from their constituents. So are we assuming we know what they want? You know what folks say about assuming...

It's time for us to be forward thinking, to challenge assumptions and anecdotal evidence with empirical data from our constituents. Then we build the strategy. We craft programs that are innovative in their simplicity, think iPhone here folks, intuitive in their approach and shift the landscape of modern communications and engagement.
 
 It's your turn to push through and make a change. What do you want on your fundraising tombstone? I'm with Dan here, I know I don't want mine to read, "she kept overhead low and she didn't make waves"

What don't you want yours to say? Post it here and let's demonstrate the change we want to be in our industry.

Cheers,

Lynne

1 comment:

  1. How about, I don't want mine to read "He kept the lights on." Or, "He always met his annual goal."

    ReplyDelete