Most Americans are results-driven. Is your nonprofit as results-driven as your donors?
Your donors’ acquire their income by producing results. Your smallest donor must produce results for his or her employer. Your wealthiest donor’s wealth is a by-product of his or her results. All of those results are meaningful and measurable. In most cases, the results were predicted (goal and achievement date) before the donor began the process of creating the result.
Your donors want to know how often your nonprofit achieves the desired results. You report results periodically to your donors. Each of your donors expects you to produce results regularly and predictably.
Does periodically = regularly and predictably?
People trust your donors to produce results without excuses and exceptions. Can your donors trust your nonprofit to produce results without excuses and exceptions?
In our society, producing results is a survival skill. For a nonprofit, producing results is an important part of sustainability. By this measure alone, how would you rate the sustainability of your nonprofit?
In a recent conversation with a foundation executive, she mentioned that the majority of the time when funding requests (grants) are turned down it is because the nonprofit is unable to predictably, consistently, and demonstrably produce meaningful, measurable, and durable results. She and her staff are accountable to the foundation’s board. Part of that accountability is to be able to document the change that the foundation’s grants are having on the community. Without results, how else can the foundation justify giving away millions of dollars each year?
Next Step:
Use the promises of your mission statement to evaluate how well your nonprofit is meeting the expectations of your donors (predictably, consistently, and demonstrably produce meaningful, measurable, and durable results)
Discuss with your donors how they would like you to measure your results (ensure the way you measure the results is meaningful to your donors)
Use the donors’ guidance to inform the way you report results to the donors
Set goals that will meaningfully exceed the expectations of your donors
Each of us is more likely to be generous when we trust the person or entity that needs our support. Each of us is more likely to be loyal when we also trust them. Is the reliably of your nonprofit’s ability to produce the results promised by your mission sufficient to generate the trust, generosity, and loyalty you want from your donors?
When you think about the expectations of donors (predictably, consistently, and demonstrably produce meaningful, measurable, and durable results), how well is your nonprofit able to meet the expectations of your donors?
As a fundraising professional there are results that you must achieve each year. Is your nonprofit as results-driven as your management team expects you to be?
If it was difficult to meet your fundraising goals in 2013, how much easier will it be in 2014 if you better meet the expectations and building the trust of your donors?
