artful fund raiser

At the end of every workday in the theatre, each load-in, rehearsal, donor tour and performance the ritual remains come quitting time—rolling out the ghost light to the darkened stage before locking the doors and making for home, a late dinner or the pub. The ghost light is a safety feature of course, a light to illuminate a space filled with trap doors, rigging, cables and any number of tripping hazards on the stage.

Those of us who grew up in the theatre are both deeply superstitious and traditional. I helped to open a $100million+ concert hall with state of the art technology that could drive a spaceship, but at the end of each day the production staff rolled out a quaint metal stand with a single incandescent bulb, as was proper. The ghost light is about safety, but more importantly it is a totem of our faith in tomorrow, a beacon and a promise – our work today is done, but we will return to bring our art to live, tomorrow, and the day, week, year and decade after that.

A dark theatre is unsafe, bad luck, bad form, and bad for business. Our work is in the light, for the audience, for our communities. This has never changed since the days of Bach and Shakespeare. Days after 9/11, and probably in your town as well, Broadway theatres were open again, for that is our work, what we do, who we are as artists and artisans. We play. We perform. We inspire.

Through war, depression, down times, and good, the work goes on. Our plays, performances, exhibitions, master classes, concerts and everything else has always proceeded because THE SHOW MUST GO ON. This is universal to our industry, from the actors, singers, technicians and concessionaires. From the stagehands to the playwrights, the marketers, the box office, the custodians, the consultants. All of us.

And for now, at least, it cannot. Important, inspired, rehearsed, beautiful works being cancelled worldwide and livelihoods and careers in jeopardy. This is our darkest hour.

Are we down? We are. Are we out? We are not. Despite personal hardship, concern for health and safety, and grave a outlook for financial stability, our work continues. Online, streamed from living rooms and rooftops. Songs sung, poems read, plays produced, in your town and mine.

Our artists and organizations are creating content for the stay at home children while taking care of their own kids. They are doing beautiful, important, relevant things because this is what we do.

Will you help? Can you buy a subscription now for next year? Can you donate those tickets? Can you make a $100 gift to the performing arts organization of your choice? Will you help this industry that makes our communities vibrant, inspired, worthwhile?

The artists, singers, actors, directors, box office staff, ushers, designers, lighting technicians, stagehands, custodians, administrators, educators and their families need you. Today. It will not wait.

Please, today. Help.

The ghost light is lit for now. We will return. We must.

One of those internet memes asks us, “Instead of ‘I don’t have time’ say ‘This is not a priority’ and see how that feels.

In my life of late, this feeling of “I can’t do that right now” has not felt wonderful. I’ve never been the sort to brag about my level of busy, though I sure have had a full plate since a seismic life change in 2007 and the years that have followed. That’s coming up on twelve years of pedal to the metal busy. And I’ve always loved being busy.

But now, more than ever, too much so. Starting a family, in a grand adventure as a new (old) Dad to two beautiful babies being the biggest change in my life, of course. But also the growing professional obligations with amazing clients that keep me traveling weekly, friendships to maintain, and a healthy marriage to steward. It is a whole bunch of bounty. More than I could possibly deserve. And I am grateful for all of it.

When I can’t take time for coffee or lunch with dear friends to catch up, no matter how far in advance we plan, it is time to adjust some priorities. This will be my last Artful Fundraiser post for now. After 100 little essays over five years, time to take a year or so off of the blog.

I began this project five years ago with no specific agenda beyond finding my own consistent voice as a writer and thinker, and to fill the evening hours of hotel time in other ways beyond a 9^th viewing of “The Wire”.

I would encourage my fundraising friends to do the same in whatever forum makes sense. When we ghost write in other’s voices (one of our main duties as fundraisers) it is interesting to find our own voice as professionals. And we get better at writing by writing, writing, and writing some more.

Whenever I meet someone who says, “Hey, I read that thing you wrote!” I am always surprised and a little embarrassed. It didn’t occur to me that folks were out there reading and sharing my stuff, but you have been, year after year, and I thank you.

Looking back over the 100 posts, I stick by most of what I’ve said and thought, especially a call for lunchtime salads during personal solicitations. And I am 100% sure that you shouldn’t be messing around with Facebook’s giving portal. I wish I had gone a little easier on my alma mater, but they seem to be doing okay. Those we care for the most can hurt us the easiest, and I love Indiana University with all my heart.

It is a good time for a hiatus. In philanthropy, and in society, we need more space for new voices and perspectives. The biggest life lesson I can point to from seeing the world in 2018 is that it is time for men, including me, to listen more without commentary, to give space and oxygen to other voices. And so, I will take the next year or so to watch and to listen, to encourage where I can, and grow as an advocate and an ally.

For reading, for your friendship, and for the good work you do to make our world a better, and more civil place, thank you. American philanthropy, for all of its imperfections, is the best system the world has for connecting people to causes, for helping others, for building generational legacy. Your work matters more than ever.

Keep in touch, let’s do schedule that coffee or lunch, and happy fundraising in 2019, and beyond.

Cheers!

What’s the best way to say thank you to a donor? Personally, promptly, sincerely, and with perfect accuracy. After that’s it’s gravy.

What’s the best time to send happy wishes to a donor? After they give a gift, to be sure. As the anniversary of their gift approaches, to remind them of your appreciation? Certainly. Ten times per year, if you can? Yes.

My favorite is the good old, “Happy Birthday!”

There aren’t many bad ways to say thank you and steward donors, but there are some better ways than others. Instead of holiday and Valentine’s day greetings from your organization, why don’t you learn your donor’s birthdays and develop systems to send truly personal and timely greetings?

An excellent stress test for any donor facing development program is asking, “Do you know your donor’s birthdays, and what do you do with that information?” A fundraising program that learns birthdays, institutionalizes birthdays into donor records, and is able to act with timeliness to provide good stewardship via a sincere “Happy Birthday” is place doing good work. It is the grandson who calls his grandmother on her birthday every year without fail, and has his college tuition covered.

Holiday cards are fine, though tricky in 2018, and maybe played out at this point. Years ago organizations would send formal Christmas cards, and that was well and fine and good until it wasn’t. And so now everyone sends Thanksgiving cards, or general Holiday cards, or Happy New Year cards. And no one feels really great about it. My personal favorite is the Holiday card that isn’t printed by the organization until December 23, and then is frantically mailed on December 27 between Christmas and New Year’s, and is often received by the donors after the first of the year.

Sure, send Holiday cards if you wish, though I am not that into it. At my house we display all of our (mostly) Christmas cards on the mantle. It is our current life stage, and maybe yours as well, but the vast majority of the cards we receive are photo collages of families, with babies and dogs and more babies.

So, compared with those meaningful photo cards from friends and family, the generic holiday card from the Food Pantry is not bad, but not great. Blah.

If you want to impress your donors, learn birthdays. It is easier now than ever, with Facebook and other online sources (though note this handy guide to Facebook donor friendships from our friends at Bloomerang). Who do we reach out to on their birthday in our personal lives? Our closest friends and families. Wouldn’t we want our donors to think of us in those terms?

Once you know the birthday, send a card, signed by the staff the donor knows. Better yet, make a phone call. A birthday is a fine time to touch base without asking for anything (asking for a gift on a birthday is surely bad form). Maybe drop off a treat, or, for your closest donors, arrange a special lunch or visit. Loneliness and isolation are a societal ill for our older friends and donors. We can do something small to help.

That’s love, That’s family. That is authentic and lasting stewardship. Learn your donor’s birthdays. Act accordingly.

No one really knows that will happen with the new tax bill, though I suspect it represents another blow to the slowly shrinking middle class (read this excellent Washington Post article for the specifics). I doubt it will make an immediate difference right away for our fundraising efforts in 2018. The economy remains quite strong, wealthy people continue to get wealthier, and Americas tend to be generous when asked. So, for most of our organizations, it should be full speed ahead, focusing now more than ever on relationship fundraising, stewardship (call everyone who gave a gift over the holidays. Everyone.) and making a compelling case about the impact of donor’s generosity. Do good work. Take care of your donors, who will support you as they are able.

2018 is also the year we can finally stop giving our donors tax advice. With the new tax bill, the gist is that, for most people in the middle class, itemizing deductions to non-profits won’t be feasible. Their standard deduction will be higher, and the tax deductibility won’t be an benefit or a liability. Philanthropic prognosticators claim that this will cost our non-profits Many Billions of gifts, which assumes that a tax deduction is a meaningful incentive to charitable giving, when study after study have proven that it is not. Regardless, it is the law now, and nothing to be done about except to vote next November.

And yet this week I received 25 emails from various non-profits reminding me that December 31 was the deadline to receive a tax deduction for 2017, but only if I gave before midnight. And so I ask, “How do you know that about my tax situation?” and “Why is this any of your business about my taxes?” and finally, “Let me get off your damn list. I wish I hadn’t given that memorial gift in my neighbor’s dad’s name three years ago.”

I happen to own a small business, and so my tax situation is more complex that most. It is also my own concern, and no one’s else, particularly yours, you Fundraising Superstar. And so is the case for everyone. Lots of middle class folks don’t need a tax deduction, but they do want to help their neighbors, support their communities, and feel good about their lives. We can help.

I am going to now let you in on the Biggest Secret About People with Some Money. Don’t tell anyone. It’s that they Know Their Money. It is as simple as that. Wealthy folks know about money. How to make it, invest it, and how to keep it away from the IRS. They don’t need your advice, I promise. There are countless ways to preserve wealth and limit a tax burden. Giving way your money is so far down that list in terms of return of investment that it doesn’t really matter.

Donors don’t need your tax advice. They need your prompt and accurate thanks, your partnership in showing the results of good work, for you to keep your promises, and for your courage to show them opportunity. That’s the work of a fundraiser. Let the tax guys and the politicians sort the taxes.

Of those 25 year-end emails I got around New Year’s, I responded to exactly one, from a personal friend. We are in midst of record cold right now in my city with ten days plus of Arctic weather, right at the holidays when staff resources are spread thin. Of all the folks impacted by this very dangerous weather, families with children are the most vulnerable to homelessness. A friend pointed out that only one organization in my city helps families with children get off the street in emergency cold. And so that’s who I supported. That’s the Case, the Reason, the Opportunity.

Suggesting that your organization is somehow a resource for tax advice is hubris at best, and possibly dangerous. What if you are wrong in your claim that my gift is deductible? What makes you the expert my a donor’s situation? Why claim otherwise?

So let’s stop emphasizing tax deductibility. Let’s fundraise instead. Happy 2018.