This Blog has Moved

This blog has now moved to:
http://JeremyGregg.com/

A (slight) Return: "Is the nonprofit sector wasting your money?

Blogging as Self Sabotage?

Thanks to those who emailed me and also who commented in response to my recent blog, "Is the nonprofit sector wasting your money?"

For those who missed, here are the comments.

Jeane Goforth said...

We are guilty of being one of those small non-profits. However, we are very open to collaboration and consolidation. We keep communication open across the local sector precisely to prevent duplication of effort.
However--and not suprisingly--it comes down to ego and money. So many have the perception that non-profits are automatically wallowing in easy money. I think that's because of some local scandals involving government officials funneling money to friends and relatives through non-profits.
We recently tried to bring a parallel organization without non-profit status into ours. They were perfectly willing to use our status to solicit funds, but unwilling to submit to the governance of our board. Thus, the merger was not possible and they will now file for their own 501(c)3 status.

Denise L. said...

Hi Jeremy,

This certainly is an interesting topic!

After reading your analysis of the Texas nonprofit sector, I just had one lingering question about the second bullet point: are these small nonprofits guilty of maintaining a 16% overhead?

It could be that these nonprofits rely heavily on volunteers and donated office space to achieve their mission, while the larger nonprofits incur higher administrative expenses.

Chris Casquilho said...

Point taken. However many community-based nonprofit endeavors don't scale. There's no magic bullet.

Elizabeth Clawson said...

Excellent devil's advocacy! Along with previous commenters, I do agree that there's no magic bullet, and that not all community-based nonprofits scale. And if I were in one of these small nonprofits, the last thing I'd want to go through is a merger. But I also duplication--of mission, office functions etc.--is a danger. Maybe a group of nonprofits in the same community could take it upon themselves to compare their own office functions, client populations, and other aspects of their work to see where they could share resources? Technology, materials, consulting services--many things could be held in common by several organizations to reduce their overhead expenses.

Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, a fantastic nonprofit here in DC, leads the charge for funding nonprofit overhead costs and operating support--I wonder how they would respond to your post.

What do you think?

I'd love to hear from you. Especially if you are from Grantmakers for Effective Organizations. :)

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Hey, Nonprofits! Wake up! You can innovate or you can die.

Why do we fear ideas? 

I can understand fear of opinions. After all, opinions led us to the slave trade; the Holocaust; nearly every war that man has waged. Each of these tragedies resulted from an idea becoming entrenched in a value set that determined a course of action based on that idea.

But the idea itself was harmless. It was what we chose to do with the idea that led to its horrible manifestation.

On the other side, ideas hold no inherent value. It is implementation that matters; or, more directly, it is innovation... the act of implementing new ideas.

After all, without innovation, we'd still be living in caves or trees. No cars, no air conditioning, no iPods, and, God forbid, no Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr Pepper.

Now, I'll admit it: I can say things that get me in a lot of trouble. Lord knows, this blog has gotten me into more hot water than I'd liked to admit. Much of this has been driven by the fact that I am given to ideate aloud.

So, lest I suddenly clean up my act, let me offer another one of my more unpopular ideas: perhaps there are too many nonprofits. 

Try offering up that insight in a room full of nonprofiteers vying for money. You might as well as stand up and say you hate children, particularly sweet and loving ones.

But let's think about that idea for a moment without encumbering it with a presumed opinion like, "My nonprofit should exist and yours should not" or "The government should be providing these services instead of nonprofits."

Let's just consider the idea. Are there too many nonprofits?

Consider a few facts:

• There are nearly three times as many nonprofits today as there were in 1990; 
  
• Nonprofits now employ nearly 1 in 10 U.S. workers
• Nearly 7% of our country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) falls within the nonprofit sector.

Here is my prediction:

We will have fewer 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations in 2011 than we have today. 

One thing is certain: even if the economy were still rosy, thousands of nonprofits will be closing their doors over the coming years.

Why?

Because the IRS recently released its first revisions to the Form 990 in thirty years. This new tax filing for nonprofit is much more robust, including 14 more schedules than the old Form 990 and a much more onerous "core form." Many small nonprofits might struggle to complete this task, and the IRS will revoke their tax status. 

In fact, the IRS will automatically revoke the 501(c)(3) status of nonprofit organizations that refuse to file their mandatory tax filings (shockingly, this is something new... many of the nation's 1.5+ million nonprofits are actually defunct but still show up on the IRS roles).

So, we are guaranteed to have fewer nonprofit organizations in a few years.

Beyond that, this darn economic collapse will destroy many businesses. As Robert Egger likes to remind us, "nonprofit" is just a tax status. In every other way, nonprofits are businesses. So, just like any other small business, nonprofits are going to face some hard times ahead. I expect that this fact alone will lead to the shuttering of many organizations.

After all, the Council on Foundations reported that their members lost an average of 28% of their asset base in 2008. In Dallas, I have spoken with a number of foundations whose losses track higher to the 40% mark. 

One local foundation told me that they have lost so much money that they are going to have to dip into their corpus (the "untouchable 95%") just to cover their existing mutli-year pledges. 

What does this look like?

According to Philanthropy Journal, foundations gave 12.6% of all donations in 2007, or $38.52 billion. A 28% drop in this number is therefore a 3.5% drop in the overall amount of money going to nonprofit organizations, or nearly an $11 billion loss for the sector.

So, just count on the fact that we'll have about $11 billion less in the 2009 Giving USA report next year.

Compounding this problem is the fact that corporations - which donated $15.69 billion in 2007 -- are facing incredible pressures to decrease all costs, and we will see an enormous drop in institutional giving. 

So, don't rely on that large corporation that has always given you $25K for your annual gala. Sure, your board chair might work there and their giving maven might loooooove your event, but this year is going to be different.

Here are the exact words from one of my friends who gives away money for a local bank:

"We just got billions of bailout dollars from the government. The last thing we need is for the community to see my name in lights at the top of your event!"

Couple all of this with the fact that individuals are seeing their stock portfolios drop to the lowest level since 1997, and we're in for a helluva ride. 

But wait, it gets better:

The Obama administration has proposed some changes to the tax laws that would likely result in a decrease in charitable giving among the wealthiest of Americans.

Still afraid of ideas? Terrified at the idea of innovation, and think it's best to stay the course? 

Now is not the time to focus on business as usual; it's time to explore some new ideas for your business!

Some ideas to consider:

1. Can you offset some of your philanthropic dollars with earned income?
2. Can you add more value to your sponsorships by exploring co-branding?
3. Is there a way to scale back your special events without turning off your guests (i.e. are they really there for the chicken dinner, or to support your organization)?
4. Are there ways that you can monetize the relationships that you have with clients and donors without compromising your integrity (i.e. are there companies who would be willing to pay you for favorable introductions to your clients, board or donors)?
5. Do you really need an HR Manager and Payroll Clerk, or could you hire a PEO (Professional Employer Organization)  to drop costs?
6. Could you raise the deductible on your insurance plan and replace it with an internal reimbursement program for employee health expenses  so that a $3,000 deductible walks and talks like a $500 deductible, but your organization spends less and has an incentive to provide wellness programs?
7. Would your administrative staff or fundraising team be willing to earn less in order to work from home?
8. Do you really get the same dollar-for-dollar return on investment by hiring a full-time grant writer compared to a contract grant writer who can  focus on writing grants instead of responding to internal emails?
9. Does every employee really need a computer, or would program people actually get more done if they did not have the distraction of Internet and email? Maybe a shared computer they could each use for 30 minutes per day?
10. Is there a vacant cubicle or office in your building that you could sub-lease to another nonprofit? An attorney? A person with a home-based business who needs a place to get away and focus?
11. Do you really need a print newsletter, or could you send a final notice to subscribers that you are going online in order to maximize the amount of their dollars going to programs?
12. Are there neighboring businesses with whom you could share a printer? copier? parking?
13. Could you consolidate your gala event with a peer organization's event, share the costs and split the kitty? Or. split the costs and each "eat what you kill" in terms of sponsors?
14. Is there a local company that would be willing to pay you to put your logo on their products? (seriously)
15. Could you bring in a volunteer to write hand-written thank you notes to your previous donors to ensure them that they are appreciated now more than ever?
16. Is your own fundraising engine so powerful that a smaller organization in a different niche would pay you to raise money for them? (i.e. could a local school with a powerful grant writing program get paid to write grants for a local animal shelter?)
17. Where do you have ad space that you can sell? Company vehicles? empty wall space? banner ads on Web sites? employee uniforms?
18. Are you so good at delivering that your services that other organizations would be willing to hire your Executive Director as a consultant to help them replicate some of your success?
19. Are there smaller nonprofits that share a similar mission to yours who would be willing to entertain a conversation about a merger?
20. Do you really need to own your building, or could you sell it to someone with a clause that you be provided first right of refusal on the lease?

Keep in mind -- it is often not the answer to these questions that is the most valuable, but the process of reviewing the idea. Considering even the most ridiculous  notion might enable your organization to achieve the breakthrough conversation that takes you to the next plateau of performance.

We fear ideas because we fear the unknown. We fear admitting that death is real, that sickness plagues us all, that our backs are growing less flexible with each passing year and that we may not, in fact, be a unique and beautiful snowflake. 

We fear new ideas because they might reveal that we have been doing the wrong thing, and we know that wasted time is wasted life.

Do not fear the idea. Fear the silent lack of wonder that dooms your organization to the grave before its time. Fear only that you might feel content enough to not desire more for you, your organization or your clients. 

Happy innovating.

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Pondering my Decision

I just completed my second month here at the Center for Nonprofit Management. It's been a fantastic journey of self-discovery and, in some surprising ways, renewal. My eyes have been opened to an entirely different perspective on the work that I've been doing for the past eight years.

I won't lie: it's been a great struggle at times. I miss my friends at CDM. I miss going to work every day above the busiest food pantry in North Texas. Strangely, I miss wondering whether I'll be able to make payroll every two weeks.

OK, well, maybe I don't miss everything...

The Center has been incredible. I've had the opportunity to meet some of the most dynamic organizations in our community, and have been able to share in some powerful conversations with people who are dedicated to changing the world. I've especially enjoyed the opportunities that I've had to sit across the table from full-time philanthropists and say,

"I am not here to ask you for a gift. I want you to see me and the Center as a partner in your effort to change the world. You give money to organizations so that they will be better and stronger. We do the same thing, only we do it through training and consulting. We want you to see us not as a grant recipient, but a mission partner."

Mission partner.

I've been thinking a lot about what that means.

I've especially been thinking about what it means for me on a personal level.

What is my mission? Why did I decide to make this move over to the Center? What is it that I am trying to do over here?

I put some thoughts together over on my ListenTheGift.com blog:
http://www.listenthegift.com/2008/12/what-is-this-all-about.html

I have no final answer. But this line from Jim Wallis is about as close as I've come to understanding why I am here:

"Where your gifts coincide with the crushing needs of the world, there lies your vocation."

Shoulder against the wheel,

Jeremy

Fundraising Blogs from the AFP Community

Thanks to the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) for including this blog in their recent article:

Fundraising Blogs from the AFP Community

Here is an excerpt from that article with some of the blogs they reference:

• Donovan’s Donor Diary (http://www.fundraisingcorner.blogspot.com/) by Jim Donovan, president and CEO of Donovan Management Inc. in Lake Monroe, Fla.
• Everyday Giving Blog (http://www.everydaygivingblog.com/) by Roger Carr, founder of Everyday Giving in Fredericksburg, Va.
• Fundraising for Nonprofits blog (www.gayleroberts.com/blog) by Gayle Roberts, fundraising counsel, Fundraising for Nonprofits in San Francisco, Calif.
• New Voices of Philanthropy (http://www.newvoicesofphilanthropy.org/) by Trista Harris, executive director of Headwaters Foundation for Justice in Minneapolis, Minn.
• Perspectives From the Pipeline (http://www.fromthepipeline.blogspot.com/) by Rosetta Thurman, director of development and special programs at the Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington in Washington, D.C.
• The Raiser’s Razor (http://www.theraiser.blogspot.com/) by Jeremy Gregg, CFRE, director of development at Central Dallas Ministries in Dallas, Texas.
• Sue’s Muse (http://www.suesmuse.com/) by M. Sue Woodward, CFRE, president of Woodward Associates in Potomac, Md.
  

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Help me to sharpen the Razor

FundRaising Success asks the following:

What are your favorite fundraising/nonprofit marketing blogs? What’s so great about them?
To send responses/comments, e-mail: mbattistelli@napco.com. Responses should not exceed 100 words. Your ideas, insights and opinions could be published in an upcoming issue of FundRaising Success magazine.

What are your favorite blogs? More importantly -- what would it take for this blog to make your list?

I'd love your thoughts on how I could sharpen the Razor!

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Blogging in My Sleep? (Bloggapedia)

Either I am blogging in my sleep, or someone out there is interested in referring people to this blog, because I have no idea how this got set up... but it looks like Bloggapedia is another interesting resource to help you find blogs of interest to you.

See The Raiser's Razor's entry at:

http://www.bloggapedia.com/Blog/The-Raiser-s-Razor-14992



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Back to the Basics

Want to know what your site looks like on a mobile device? The good people at Google have made it easy for you to enter any URL and see how it is rendered on a mobile device.

After looking at my recent redesign, I realized that I had made the site almost impossible to read on a PDA or phone. Since this is how I read blogs, I figured many of you might be reading it that way as well.

I am still struggling to figure out how to make this work the best. This article was incredibly helpful, although a bit beyond me:
Vitamin Features » Make your site mobile friendly

Any advice you have would be much appreciated!

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Do you Digg me?

Did I sell out? I prefer the term "bought in." The Raiser's Razor is now on Digg. Digg it:

http://digg.com/business_finance/The_Raiser_s_Razor

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Seeking Carl Sandburg

I am, for the next week, exploring life in the heart of Chicagoland. Likely little blogging to be done other than in my mind.

Enjoy this respite, and the following from Carl Sandburg

Chicago

HOG Butcher for the World,
Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,
Player with Railroads and the Nation's Freight Handler;
Stormy, husky, brawling,
City of the Big Shoulders:

They tell me you are wicked and I believe them, for I
have seen your painted women under the gas lamps
luring the farm boys.
And they tell me you are crooked and I answer: Yes, it
is true I have seen the gunman kill and go free to
kill again.
And they tell me you are brutal and my reply is: On the
faces of women and children I have seen the marks
of wanton hunger.
And having answered so I turn once more to those who
sneer at this my city, and I give them back the sneer
and say to them:
Come and show me another city with lifted head singing
so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning.
Flinging magnetic curses amid the toil of piling job on
job, here is a tall bold slugger set vivid against the
little soft cities;

Fierce as a dog with tongue lapping for action, cunning
as a savage pitted against the wilderness,
Bareheaded,
Shoveling,
Wrecking,
Planning,
Building, breaking, rebuilding,
Under the smoke, dust all over his mouth, laughing with
white teeth,
Under the terrible burden of destiny laughing as a young
man laughs,
Laughing even as an ignorant fighter laughs who has
never lost a battle,
Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse.
and under his ribs the heart of the people,
Laughing!
Laughing the stormy, husky, brawling laughter of
Youth, half-naked, sweating, proud to be Hog
Butcher, Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat, Player with
Railroads and Freight Handler to the Nation.

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New look for The Raiser's Razor

I have just spent an inordinately unnecessary amount of time playing around with the layout and structure of my blog. Hope ye like the new look.

When I grow up, I want to be GiftHub.org.

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Thank you to The Nonprofiteer blog

Rather than post today, I will send a link to a blog that makes some criticisms of one of my previous articles. The Nonprofiteer makes some interesting points in her article, "Labor relations at nonprofits; or, Shut up and serve your indenture!," although I think that she misinterpretted some of my original argument.

I would welcome your thoughts on the discussion of non-profit compensation!

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Does (gift) size matter?

Thanks to Unfair Park, GiftHub and The Chronicle of Philanthropy for linking to my last post: Would you rather have one $100,000 donor or 2,000 $50 donors?

There are some interesting comments on those three blogs, and I encourage you to visit them for some perspective on what I hope will become an ongoing discussion in fundraising offices around the country:

"Are we pursuing the right donors?"

On the The Chronicle of Philanthropy blog, there was a comment from Susan Racanelli that stated the obvious: "healthy nonprofit needs both types of donors in the appropriate measure." I agree fully, and don't think that either I or the anonymous donor at
Don't Tell the Donor.org -- whose blog initially started this discussion -- intended to imply that an organization should intentionally choose between the two.

In reality, very few of us would turn down a six-figure gift or turn away 2,000 small donors. This was not the debate.

(Although I did enjoy finding the images of "Giants among us" at Worth1000.com).

What the aforementioned blogs were trying to portray were the considerations that fundraisers must make when pursuing either. There are some unique differences between how you sustain a relationship with a single, six-figure donor vs. a swarm of two-figure donors.

The real strength of any development program is, of course, its ability to sustain both.

I am currently working on my department's 2008 Strategic Plan as well as our 2008 Annual Operations Plan (AOP). One of the most crucial elements of these plans is that they work together: activities that are not tied to a broader strategy will not help a development department to achieve its goals, and strategies that are unrelated to the daily operations of a fundraising program are worth less than the ink they take up on the paper.

Here are some of the broad goals that I am considering including in this Strategic Plan:

• Decrease the lapsed donors rate (by comparing the percentage of 2007 donors who lapse in 2008 to the percentage of 2006 donors who lapsed in 2007)


• Increase renewal rate of lapsed donors (by comparing the percentage of donors who gave in 2005, lapsed in 2006 and came back in 2007 to the percentage of donors who gave in 2006, lapsed in 2007 and came back in 2008)


• Increase average gifts from existing donors (by comparing the average gifts of donors who gave in both 2007 and 2008)


• Increase number of new donors acquired in 2008 compared to 2007

These are goals that apply to both our $50 donors as well as our $100,000 donors. The AOP will likely include significantly different activities for these two types of donors, but the fundamental goal remains the same.

Regardless of the size of your organization's budget, you should have a clearly outlined strategy for soliciting donors. Even if you are part of a smaller organization that does not have a full-time development officer, you should try to set up a clear set of expectations for revenue generation that are not purely financial (i.e. "raise $_____ from individuals."). By focusing on outcomes such as those mentioned above, you will almost invariably achieve better financial results for your organization than if you simply focused on dollars raised.

It is also critical that any development program have a plan for its annual activities; again, this is regardless of an organization's size. Even if it is nothing more than a calendar of the various print and electronic communications that you will send in 2008, this plan will enable you to look at your overall activities costs related to sustaining donor relationships.

This will help you to be a good stewards of your own time and the resources that your organization dedicates to fundraising.

QUESTION: What are the additional goals that should be a part of any fundraising program?

One Post Challenge

Thanks to Sean at Tactical Philanthropy for the invitation to submit a blog to the One Post Challenge. Thanks to the encouragement of Phil Cubeta at GiftHub, I submitted my blog, "The Secret Leaders of the Philanthropic Revolution.

Please view the entry and add your nominations here:
http://tacticalphilanthropy.com/2007/11/the-secret-leaders-of-the-philanthropic-revolution

Of course, despite all that I say in this blog, there is some truth to the power of wealth, reputation and influence...

Gates Keepers :: China says it will change a policy the same week the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announces its programme there

I am still interested in discovering who is quietly shaping the future of our sector, but we would all be fools to ignore the actions of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The institution is easily the largest private foundation on the planet, and likely one of the most important actors on the stage of global health.

Let us all hope that they use their power wisely. The future of our world, let alone our sector, depends heavily on it.

(Extra points for those who can identify the attached picture)

Blog cites The Raiser's Razor

Thanks to Abny Santicola and Fundraising Success for their recent article, "Blog Your Mission," about one of my previous posts.

a fundraiser's confession, on the day of his birth

Alas, alas... another year has passed, and August 4 is here again. With the passage of this day, I enter another year of life.

I have never liked August 4th, not since I was a child. Now, as I stand but a year removed from the beginning of my fourth decade in this life, I feel compelled to say something noteworthy .... something profound, something that will compel tears and the lighting of large fires. I feel a strange need to blow a trumpet (a feeling exaggerated by the fact that I have never done so).

After all, recalling my thoughts on this same day ten years ago, when I stood on the threshold of my third decade, I thought that I would be dead by now.

(28 was the end of youth, it seemed, and all things after were for those who burned less brightly)

Yet here I stand, 29, and still drawing breath.

So much for my bold plans. (Thank goodness.)

I have no proud statements or wise proclamations. Merely this, my true confession: I did not want to be here. I had not plans to be here. I did not even know this "here" existed.

Yet here I stand, 29, and still drawing breath (though with more difficulty than before).

Here I stand, 29, and happy. This last part is, to me, a grand surprise... owed far more to my lovely wife and magnificent daughter than to my own efforts.

Indeed, here I stand, in a home of my own. 29, with a job in a field that was foreign to me when I was a young pup of 19 forecasting my life and seeing an end within a decade.

I can hear the adolescent self-importance of my voice now...

"Fundraising? Your JOB is 'fundraising'? Are you KIDDING ME??!?!?"

Ahhhh, yes, not a poet but a professional beggar. I spend my days thinking about money: how to get it, how to explain the way it is used, how to figure out where it will be coming from tomorrow. All day long, I am thinking about money.

Or am I?

Is it really the money that drives me, that haunts my waking moments? Or my desire to crack the code that binds resources from achieving their potential? Am I chasing the elusive dollar, or running after a world that is only a breath away from whispering, "I am"?

This is my confession: I am the Director of Development for a charitable organization that desperately needs more funding, and I hate asking for money.

My job, you see, is not really about money. It's not about resources of any kind. It is certainly not about charity. To call it "investments" is to cloud the issue.

It's about relationships.

It's about getting to know my neighbors: Those with money, and those without.

It's about being a part of my community, about connecting people to opportunities to realize their own potential (again, this is for those with and without wealth).

It's about spending my time finding ways to love people and to help them love each other.

If I have to ask for money, I have failed in my higher calling.

I love my work. It involves money, yes. But I do not love money. I love what drives a person to give up their money, and I love what that money can become when put in the right place.

I love my neighbors. I love my community.

I love where I am, all the more because it was not where I wanted to be, but where I was needed.

This is the green light across from my dock, Gatsby. It is the light that keeps me awake, staring into the great and gaping maw of the night. This is the light that drives me, beating on...

Just another boat borne back ceaselessly into the past? Or am I flowing onward, upriver, somberly into the heart of an immense darkness?

We shall see where it leads me, this will-o'-the-wisp.

I am grateful for your company along the way.

Another look at blogs on fundraising...

On February 15, I posted a chart of blogs on fundraising over the most recent 30 days...

I recently took another look at this graph, and was pretty amazed by the results. Looking over the past 180 days, there has been a very steady increase in the number of posts that contain Fundraising.

Click here to get your own chart.

Lots of new bloggers out there writing about the work and world of fundraising! I hope that they are following this great advice from "Have Fun * Do Good":

5 Tips to Start a Nonprofit Blog

Considering this increasing number of blogs on the topic of fundraising, I appreciate you taking the time to read my blog. I will continue to do my best to skim the blogosphere for the best writing available on fundraising, and to present it here in as straightforward and accessible a way as possible.

(CUE AIRLINE COMMERCIAL)

"I realize that you have a choice when you blog, and I thank you for choosing The Raiser's Razor."

Burn Out

We all know it's happening right before it really kicks in, don't we?

We're chugging along, going about the multitude of tasks that occupy our daily lives (and entirely too often, our evening hours as well). Then suddenly we look up and realize it's not the Friday we'd thought it was, but just a Wednesday.

Or even a Monday.

We look up and suddenly we realize: I am one annoying phone call, one catty email, one form response decline letter away from throwing in the towel on this thing.

Fundraising is an industry of passion. I haven't met a lot of drones in this field: the vast majority of people are here because they have the right talents to do the job as well as the desire to get that job done.

Long hours, endless deadlines, unrelenting financial pressures... combine this with a heart full of passion, and it's a recipe for a fire inside the spirit.

A fire that can burn out what's actually driving us to be here.

I don't have a magic recipe for getting out of this situation (other than "hey, write a blog about it!"). But the following is usually helpful for me:

• Take a mental health day. In the middle of the week, take a day off to do nothing related to work. Don't do chores or go to personal appointments, either. Just stay home - read, watch a movie, anything to get your mind off of work. Think of it as a mental massage.
  
  
• Get out from behind the desk and volunteer. I have the luxury of working on the 2nd floor above a food pantry; when I'm burning out, I go downstairs, stock the shelves and talk to some of the most amazing people in the city. It always renews my spirit for this work.
  
  
• Talk about what you're experiencing with people who understand. Since I often find it hard to discuss burnout with my coworkers (since it tends to devolve into a gripe session) or family (who already hear me complain enough), I have a number of other fundraisers I talk to.

I think that this last piece of advice is the most valuable. The best thing that you can do -- both for your career, as well as your organization's success -- is to get to know other people in this line of work. In Dallas, we are fortunate to have the Center for Nonprofit Management; they have a wonderful program called "The Leaders Circle" through which 6-8 development officers or executive directors get together to share best practices and counsel each other. I've been a member for a few years, and hope to continue participating for many years to come.

Fundraising is a difficult and tense business, but one in which experience is often a better asset than natural skill. In order for our field to remain strong, we need to work together to stop "burn out" (which I believe drives more people out of this line of work than even the allure of higher salaries in the corporate world or the freedom of the consulting industry).

Have a great weekend, everyone. I'll be in Houston visiting family -- hopefully to relax and return to Dallas rejuvenated!

In Montreal til March 20th

Friends, I'll be heading to Montreal until the 20th -- until then, happy fundraising!

The Raiser's Razor included on Nonprofit Blog Exchange & Don't Tell the Donor

Thank you, Nonprofit Blog Exchange, for including The Raiser's Razor in your "Blog Exchange Roundup #8":

Nonprofit Blog Exchange: Blog Exchange Roundup #8

And here at "Don't Tell the Donor":
Don't Tell the Donor

Lots of resources out there for fundraisers... I'll continue to work to find the best of the best and put it on this blog.