Cause & Effect (most of the time)
- Chris B.
- Jul 14
- 2 min read
One of the biggest challenges in fundraising is how we think about fundraising.
Here's an example
A client of mine received a major gift from a foundation.
It was the kind of gift that energizes a fundraising plan and seems to come at exactly the right time.
It was also an unsolicited gift. No grant application, no solicitation letter. Just the gift.
Much later, this client was reviewing her fundraising progress and was left feeling disappointed. She had hit her goals, but thought that she could have done more. Especially since she thought the foundation gift "didn't count."
She didn't write a grant request for the funding she received. But she did meet with the foundation and learn about their philanthropic goals. And she shared stories from her organization and showed how the foundation could be a part of the vision they were building.
But because she didn't "directly" ask, she thought the gift didn't count or didn't reflect the work she put into the relationship.
I quickly corrected this particular misconception and reminded her that while the gift was "unsolicited," it wouldn't have materialized without her work.
Feeling like you didn’t "earn" a particular gift is a trap that a lot of fundraisers fall into. And it's common because we're taught that fundraising happens in a particular order. Which is true. Until it isn't.
The tools we use to explain and understand fundraising (like the donor pyramid and the donor cycle) paint a clear picture of fundraising cause and effect. You apply for the grant and you get the grant. You ask for donations during the event and guests raise their paddles to give. One thing follows the other.
This is comforting, understandable, and often false. After all, we're working with people. And people are unpredictable.
Here's a quick example.
I had a donor who would make a regular donation to the organization. But each check she mailed had a different reply envelope. Sometimes from a newsletter, sometimes from an annual report. A "cause and effect" reading of her behavior would tell you that she saw the newsletter, was inspired by a story, and then mailed a check in the provided envelope.
But that donor told me that she kept our newsletters and reports in a stack to read. And when she felt compelled to give, she grabbed the piece from the top of stack and used that envelope. So the cause and effect wasn't as clear as I thought it was.
Solicitation is a vital part of any fundraising strategy. Without it, it's not much of a strategy at all. But clear cause and effect doesn't always play out the way we expect.
Your strategy needs to account for the people you are inviting to your mission, and your culture should celebrate your staff members' fundraising efforts -- even when those efforts don't look like they came from a fundraising textbook.
What do you think? Have you had a donor interaction that didn't fit the mold?
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