Cost-of-Fundraising is the Kryptonite of Philanthropy

by David Lawson2 Comments
When the conversation turns to cost-of-fundraising I can almost hear the collective sigh of missions across the globe. It is a knowing sigh, one that understands when the focus is on quantitative measures, the qualitative aspects of missions suffer. The cost-of-fundraising madness is truly the kryptonite of philanthropy. It turns the mission from a bold and daring venture into a meek shadow which only comes to life as a photo in direct mail or a website surrounded by copy extolling the virtue of how little was spent to send the photo or to receive an online donation. If you have been reading this blog lately you know I’m on a bit of a rant about the need to move away from the transaction-based culture of giving to a mission-based culture of philanthropy. Making this move will require that cost-of-fundraising be encased in lead and buried in the cave with other ideas which seemed good at the time, but not so much on...
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Philanthropy – When Did It Become About Fundraising?

by David LawsonNo Comments
In the beginning there was a need and someone met it using their own time and resources. Then the need grew and became too much for one person, so they enlisted the time and resources of others. Out of all this activity was born a mission which served as the foundation for an organization to manage all of the time and resources. And so was born philanthropy. At some point it was decided a person needed to spend all of their time asking more people for more and more of their time and resources. And so the fundraiser was born. It was also when philanthropy began a long slow march away from its mission. Merriam-Webster defines philanthropy as: 1: goodwill to fellow members of the human race; especially:active effort to promote human welfare 2 a : an act or gift done or made for humanitarian purposes     b : an organization distributing or supported by funds set aside for humanitarian purposes Notice there is no mention of fundraising. It is about giving, not...
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Director of Mission Advancement

by Lori1 Comment
Like a lot of you, I subscribe to numerous listservs serving the nonprofit space. Advance-L, PRSPCT-L (and yes, every time I type that, I do sing it –in my head – to the tune of that Aretha classic), CFRNET, FUNDSVCS – the list goes on and on. And of course with Twitter, I have created my own listserv of sorts – following (including Twitter lists others have created) other Tweeps with similar interests to my own. One aspect of listservs which intrigues me is the title contained in the posting – not the subject title, but the poster’s job title. This morning, someone posted with a question regarding database conversion and whether or not anyone had a calendar of events or a checklist of tasks they had found to be helpful in the process.  This person’s title? Director of Mission Advancement & Donor Stewardship. I absolutely LOVE the insertion of the word mission before the word advancement. David and I (along...
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