Fundraising by Shotgun

When it's phrased that way, it even sounds unpleasant, doesn't it?

We're lucky enough to currently live in an economy where funds are precious. They seem tightly held and difficult to extract. I work with only a couple of non-profits, and the approaches that worked in a good economy are not making a dent right now.

I'm not going to offer any solid solutions in this post. I am going to offer caution.

The heartstrings of benefactors checkbooks are not easily tugged when they are bombarded by funding requests and see neighbors lining up at food banks.

Do not spend your non-profit's money just for the sake of trying to do something that you hope will raise money and and awareness. When you're strapped for cash and digging, do not advertise just for the sake of advertising.

Do not fire your shotgun into the bushes and then go poke about, hoping that you hit something. You'll get a bunch of leaves and a cloud of dust. And them squirrels you were hoping to nail?...they will run for the trees.

Plan your moves, build relationships, and then move forward.

One solution that is frequently reviewed and even more frequently shot into the bushes is SOCIAL MEDIA. OOOooooooooooh. So shiny and pretty. All the cool kids are doing it. And they look so cool and popular.

Here's an article that I recently enjoyed reading, "Facebook and Twitter are Stupid." It's a shock value title, but makes some very good points.

If you're a non-profit (or even a small business) currently paying anything for social media, stop right now and evaluate your expenses. Because one of the great benefits of social media - one of the reasons everyone is doing it - is because you can do it yourself.

I absolutely hate to see money wasted. I hate it more when it's a non-profit throwing precious funds into the prevailing wind.

Where is this coming from? Partly because yesterday I received my Northwest Harvest mailer and spent some time reading about food banks in the state going broke, functioning purely on volunteers, etc. Several times in the flyer, and in the envelope in front of me reminding me to donate, it mentions that NWHarvest can provide a family of 3 with one meal for just 67 cents.

If your non-profit is paying someone $500 to create or maintain a social presence, or advertise, or something along those lines, please don't be paying this if you're a flat broke non-profit. Look at the work that you do, look at what you want to achieve, and remember that the same $500 could potentially be providing 746 meals - 248 days of food - to a hungry family.

NWHarvest has extensive relationships and is very well-run. They are a shining example of how a non-profit can benefit people through structure and resources.

I'll generalize that every non-profit does need to attract attention and grow to some size that allows the organization to be one of action.

I'll also generalize that becoming an organization of action will not happen without a structured approach that builds relationships and from those relationships, builds attention and the money to get things done.

And I'll stretch this over to business. We all know that we/you do business with people that you trust, that referrals are golden, all that good stuff. To this day, in my freelance work, my most profitable projects have been with people who have a history with me and trust my work. 2nd most profitable: referrals.

I don't buy advertising. I maintain an online presence as a tool; I know that it's a good thing to have, I know that it allows me to be "found," and I also know that I cannot directly trace any revenue entirely to my online presence. Not a penny.

Non-profits (and businesses) should not and cannot rely soley on their online presence, their social media, to bring them money and attention. I've noticed that they place a lot of hope that social media will be their silver bullet. It's not going to work that way.

Think for a moment about business networking groups. A bunch of people just like you get together and talk and exchange cards. It's good commaradarie. It's a pleasant time. Do you keep going back if you don't develop any business from these business networking groups? Are you able to pay for the roof over your head because you're trading services with this and that fellow professional? Or are you actually building relationships that are leading to mutual revenue generation?

To attempt to bring this back around to the point; over the last year I saw several socially promoted events that were attended only by the people running the booths. The events still looked like they gathered a good crowd. Everyone had a good time. But there was nobody bringing in money from outside of the vendors. Because it relied soley on social media promotion and people patting themselves on the back for setting up their multiple social presences, while absolutely no relationships were developed.

Just because you or your organization is able to throw something together and advertise it socially (or advertise it at all) does not mean that you will achieve beneficial results.

Just because you have a cause does not mean benefactors will see your logo and instantly care.

Just because you have fired a shotgun into the bushes does not mean you will feed your family, or any family, tonight.

When was the last time your read about Bill Gates or Paul Allen finding something really cool on facebook or a blog and deciding to invest a chunk of cash because they felt so giddy and touched?

Create a plan. Develop relationships. Use the plan and relationships to invest in the proper tools. Then you'll end up benefiting people.