#323- Killing Your Fundraising Darlings

Summary

Nonprofit Lowdown Episode #323: Killing Your Fundraising Darlings

Release Date: February 3, 2025

Host: Rhea Wong
Guests: Brooke Richie Babbage, Tanya Bhattacharya, Rachel Babauer, Cindy Wagman, Jess Campbell

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Introduction

In Episode #323 of Nonprofit Lowdown, host Rhea Wong delves into a provocative topic: identifying and eliminating ineffective fundraising strategies for 2025. Titled "Killing Your Fundraising Darlings," this semiannual 10x mastermind brings together industry experts to discuss the necessity of "killing" beloved yet outdated fundraising practices to enhance efficiency and authenticity in nonprofit operations.

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1. Killing the Gala

Speaker: Rhea Wong
Timestamp: [00:33]

Rhea Wong opens the discussion by addressing one of the most traditional fundraising methods—the gala. She argues that galas are becoming increasingly inefficient, citing that it costs approximately 50 cents to raise a dollar through these events, not accounting for soft costs like mental strain and resource allocation.

“No one likes it... it feels weird to spend all this money to raise money for a cause that is serving populations that cannot afford to be in the room.”
— Rhea Wong [00:33]

Rhea emphasizes the shift in donor preferences towards authenticity and meaningful connections over extravagant gatherings. She suggests exploring smaller, more intimate events or experiential moments that foster genuine relationships, instead of large-scale galas that may not yield a positive return on investment.

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2. Killing Social Media Posting

Speaker: Jess Campbell
Timestamp: [03:27]

Jess Campbell challenges the conventional reliance on social media for fundraising, urging organizations to evaluate the effectiveness of their social media efforts in achieving their core objectives—building a community and raising funds.

“If you are not using social media to drive people to your email list, you're using it incorrectly.”
— Jess Campbell [03:39]

Jess points out the intensive effort required for effective social media engagement, including content creation and active interaction. She advises nonprofit leaders to cut back on social media if it's not delivering tangible results, thereby reclaiming valuable time and mental energy. Instead, she recommends focusing on platforms like LinkedIn for more professional and impactful interactions.

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3. Killing Stale Major Gift Prospect Lists

Speaker: Cindy Wagman
Timestamp: [06:07]

Cindy Wagman addresses the inefficacy of maintaining stale major gift prospect lists. She recounts her experience of inheriting a list of prospects who, despite appearing promising, did not convert into major donors after multiple outreach attempts.

“Just because you have someone's name, that does not mean they're inclined to give.”
— Cindy Wagman [07:58]

Cindy advises organizations to regularly update and cleanse their prospect lists, moving unresponsive individuals to annual campaign lists rather than allocating major gift resources to them. This approach ensures that fundraising efforts are directed towards prospects with a higher likelihood of contributing.

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4. Automating Donor Stewardship

Speaker: Rachel Babauer
Timestamp: [08:30]

Rachel Babauer highlights the importance of automation in donor stewardship. She emphasizes that automating routine tasks such as thank-you notes and donor follow-ups can significantly enhance donor retention without increasing the manual workload.

“It's so much cheaper to retain somebody, retain a donor, have them give again, than it is to find a new donor.”
— Rachel Babauer [09:38]

Rachel provides examples of how automation has successfully re-engaged lapsed donors and tripled donor numbers for certain organizations. She advocates for setting up automated workflows to nurture relationships, thereby reducing stress and allowing fundraisers to focus on strategic initiatives.

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5. Killing Perfection (Pisces Vibes)

Speaker: Tanya Bhattacharya
Timestamp: [11:25]

Tanya Bhattacharya encourages nonprofits to drop the pursuit of perfection in their public personas and communications. She argues that striving to appear flawless can create barriers to authentic connections with donors and stakeholders.

“Show up as yourself. Show up as a human.”
— Tanya Bhattacharya [12:49]

Tanya advises fundraisers to embrace their genuine selves in interactions, whether on social media, during speeches, or in everyday conversations. Authenticity fosters deeper connections and aligns with the modern donor’s preference for genuine engagement over polished presentations.

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6. Meta Darling: Letting Go of Habitual Practices

Speaker: Brooke Richie Babbage
Timestamp: [13:37]

Brooke Richie Babbage sums up the discussion by urging organizations to rethink and reevaluate their existing practices. She stresses the importance of aligning all activities with the organization's North Star—its core mission and long-term goals.

“Anything that doesn't fit that, let's go of it.”
— Brooke Richie Babbage [13:38]

Brooke advocates for data-driven decision-making, encouraging nonprofits to analyze their programs and strategies critically. If certain activities do not contribute to the desired impact or align with the organization’s vision, they should be discontinued, regardless of how long they've been part of the routine.

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Conclusion

Rhea Wong wraps up the episode by framing 2025 as a year of challenges and opportunities, emphasizing the need for nonprofits to be nimble and resilient. She underscores that by eliminating ineffective fundraising strategies, organizations can better position themselves to navigate uncertain times and continue making meaningful impacts.

“Rough seas make good sailors. And I think 2025 is going to be rough, y'all.”
— Rhea Wong [14:46]

Rhea encourages listeners to reflect on the discussed "darlings" and consider which practices to retire in favor of more effective, authentic approaches. She invites feedback and engagement from the audience, fostering a community of proactive and strategic nonprofit leaders.

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Key Takeaways:

1. Evaluate Traditional Fundraisers: Reassess the effectiveness of events like galas, considering their cost and impact.
2. Optimize Social Media Use: Focus on strategies that directly contribute to community building and fundraising goals, or reduce dependence on social platforms.
3. Maintain Active Prospect Lists: Regularly update and prioritize major gift prospects to ensure fundraising efforts are efficient.
4. Leverage Automation: Implement automated systems for donor stewardship to enhance retention and reduce manual workload.
5. Embrace Authenticity: Present a genuine and imperfect self to foster deeper connections with donors and stakeholders.
6. Align with Core Mission: Continuously evaluate all activities to ensure they support the organization's primary objectives and vision.

By thoughtfully "killing" these fundraising darlings, nonprofits can streamline their efforts, focus on high-impact strategies, and build stronger, more authentic relationships with their communities and donors.

Transcript

[Rhea Wong]

Hey, you, it's Ria Wong. If you're listening to Nonprofit Load on, I'm pretty sure that you'd love my weekly newsletter. Every Tuesday morning, you get updates on the newest podcast episodes. And then interspersed, we have fun special invitations for newsletter subscribers only and fundraising inspo because I know what it feels like to be in the trenches alone. On top of that, you get cute dog photos. Best of all, it is free. So what are you waiting for? Head over to riawong.com now to sign up.

[Cindy Wagman]

Foreign.

[Rhea Wong]

Welcome to Nonprofit Lowdown. I'm your host, Rhea Wong. Hey, Nonprofit Lowdown Nation. It's Rhea Wong with you with Nonprofit Lowdown. Okay, y'all are in for a treat because this is the semiannual 10x mastermind episode where I gather the best and the brightest in the field to talk about all the things. We have the star power in the house. We have Brooke Richie Babbage, Tanya Bhattacharya, Rachel Babauer, Cindy Wagman, and Jess Campbell to talk about all the things. And actually today it's 2025 as we are recording this in January and we're going to talk about which darlings you need to kill for 2025. This is about addition by subtraction. Bring out your notebooks. It's gonna be spicy. We're in Mexico City, so it's gonna be muy picante all up in here. But I'm gonna start and I'm gonna pass it around to my esteemed colleagues. But my first darling that I want you to think about killing in 2025 is the gala. I know this is like killing the golden calf or whatever that term is. But here's the thing. We are seeing diminishing returns on galas. It is an really inefficient way to raise a dollar. I think on average it takes about 50 cents to raise a dollar via gala. And that's just hard cost. So when you consider soft costs and just like the mental strain of getting the honorees and getting the sponsorships and selling the tables, when you get right down to it, I don't think most people are even breaking even. And I also think in this new world, people value authenticity and connection over anything else. And frankly, a 600 person gala is not build the kind of connectivity, the kind of relationships that you really need to build for major fundraising. So I don't know what the answer is. I don't know if that looks like smaller, more intimate gatherings. I don't know if that looks like more experiential moments of Connectivity. But I just think we are so over the gala thing, and particularly in New York City, where it's so expensive to throw a gala that I think as a sector, we just need to be brave and kill that darling. Because here's the thing, no one likes it. That's the other thing. We all go, I don't need to eat a rubber chicken dinner. I mean, fine, it's fun to get dressed up, but when you get right down to it, it feels weird to spend all this money to raise money for a cause that is serving populations that cannot afford to be in the room. It just feels very like gilded age end of times. And I feel like I'm over it. All right, let's kill that darling. Killing the gala, come at me.

[Jess Campbell]

And people might. Hi, everyone. Jess Campbell here. And for 2025, the darling I would like to kill is posting on social media.

[Tanya Bhattacharya]

Whoa.

[Jess Campbell]

We've got hoops and hollers in the background. With everything going on with the billionaire tech people and their influence over social media and the algorithms, I just really want anyone who has put energy into social media to evaluate how effective it is at moving any needle towards your bottom line, which is building a community and raising money. And I think that organizations can find themselves trapped in this hustle of posting on social media, even though they don't see that return on investment. I would say if you're not using social media to drive people to your email list, you're using it incorrectly. And I just really want people to think from the idea concept, the conception of the idea you want to post, to getting in Canva and building graphics, to recording videos and adding overlay text and just. And then the engagement. The engagement is the majority part of the work. If you're not doing all of that and seeing a lot of new people engaging with that or even coming into the world that you are welcoming them to, then why, like, why? It's such a waste of time and brain space and the pressure to like, I gotta post today, I gotta post today is, in my opinion, not worth it. A lot of us have let go of a lot of social media. Most of us are just still hanging out on LinkedIn, which might be the one place I would say to still show up. Yeah, Reid Hoffman is definitely the least evil. And give yourself some time back. And, you know, the email girly in me is going to say, put your energy towards that which has just an uncomparable return on investment compared to anything you're ever going to post on social.

[Rhea Wong]

So are you saying no social at all. Or like pullback.

[Jess Campbell]

I'm saying if you are an organization leader, fundraiser, who has uttered the words, I am so busy. I am so overwhelmed. Cut this, darling. See how that goes. And then reevaluate. Because if this can give you back anywhere from two to five hours of time a week and a lot of brain space, I recommend chopping.

[Rhea Wong]

Oh, spicy.

[Cindy Wagman]

I love that. I also think a lot of people do social media because they think they're gonna be discovered by some big donor. And that's not where your fundraising efforts are best spent. I'm Cindy Wagman. Hey. And my darling to kill today is a stale major gift prospect list. So I. Stale lists, but in particular prospect list. So I'm gonna tell you my story. I started when I started a new job as a major gift fundra many years ago. I inherited a prospect list of about 125 to 150 names. And the names looked great. They were like, oh, yeah, this person has money. This person has money. It was a university. They were alumni. There's a connection. And you know what? Those prospects had been on that list that belonged to someone before me and someone before them and someone before them, and still they were not major donors. And so I reached out one time or maybe a couple times to each person, and if I never heard back, they got downgraded. I don't just delete the name entirely, but they go on our annual campaign list. Still ask. But unless they're giving in some capacity or involved in some capacity or you have a really warm introduction, what's your threshold? Let it go. What's my threshold for letting it go? I would usually try, if I was new in a position, I'd try four to six times to reach out in different ways. And if I don't hear anything again, we're still asking them in the annual campaign, which you should do if you're not. So it's not that they're not hearing from the organization or being asked, but they're not a top priority for my major gift energy. That's my darling. Yeah. And just because you have someone's name, that does not mean they're inclined to give.

[Jess Campbell]

Gosh, no. And especially coming out of. Especially coming out of a post Covid era. Like there was such an influx of donors from 2025 or 2020, and now we are five years beyond that. And if they gave once and are never given again, I just underscore, double circle, highlight all the things you just said.

[Cindy Wagman]

Bless and release. It reminds me of he's not that. He's just not that into you. Take a hint. Yeah, so that's my darling. So see you later, stale prospects.

[Rachel Babauer]

Hello. Hello, this is Rachel BAERBAERBER and in 2025, I think the darling that I want to kill is so much of the work that you are doing does not have to be manual. You are making things so much harder on yourself. And as somebody who loves automation, loves to set up systems specifically within your donor stewardship, let's be honest, it's so much cheaper to retain somebody, retain a donor, have them give again, than it is to find a new donor. So let's keep them, let's set up the system, set up the workflows to nurture and love on those donors when they first give a gift so that you don't have to keep that mental load of oh, did I connect with them? Oh, did I send that thank you note. There's a lot of ways that you can send really personal, just lovely ways to personally connect with your donors, having it be automated.

[Rhea Wong]

To your point, Rachel, I think the other darling here is focusing more on donor acquisition than donor retention. Let's kill that darling. Donor acquisition is important. Don't get me wrong. Jess and I were talking about the fact that folks should be focused on list building and acquisition. However, however, I think that happens to the detriment of retention and if anything kill the darling of retention over acquisition.

[Rachel Babauer]

Absolutely. And to that point I have some specific examples. I just this last year worked with a couple of organizations. Example, number one, we did a lapsed donor campaign and we, I agree with the stale major donor list. Let's you know, this donor was on a list, we were sending him some emails and after 10 years message the executive director was like, your emails are so good. I just had to give again. And after 10 years he is back. Another organization, we really work to nurture their donors towards the end of the year and we just got the numbers back and they 3x the number of donors that they had from 2023 to 2024. By paying attention to your donors, setting all of these automated touch points, you can have way more time. You don't have to be so busy, you don't have to be so stressed out. So much of automation can just take away that mental load and I want that for you. I don't want you to be stressed. I want you to do less, do less. I don't want you to set up automation and reduce all this manual work so that you can do more. I want you to do less because you'll be happier. Okay, that's it.

[Tanya Bhattacharya]

That's so good, Rachel. Hey, everybody. I'm Tanya Bhattacharya, and per usual, my darling is a little bit more ephemeral, a little bit less tactical. But really, the darling that I want you to kill is Pisces Vibes. Always the darling I want you to kill is this need to show up perfect in your visibility all the time. And there are spaces where it is important to make sure your I's are dotted and your T's are crossed, like a grant report. But when you're showing up on LinkedIn, which apparently is the 1 social media platform we should be showing up on, when you are giving a speech in front of donors, when you are just having a conversation you don't necessarily have or you shouldn't lapse into that version of yourself that you think you need to show up as, which is that, I don't know, having the white paper ready to go, having these very perfect materials, just show up as yourself. Show up as a human. I have really found that perfection is such a barrier to connection. And Ria was saying earlier about the gay people want authenticity. People want to see you in your humanity. Your organization could be one of those places where people are coming to get that, reconnect with, you know, how they believe they want to show up in the world. And so I think you can model and mentor that by just showing up as your true self. You know, you don't have to be someone you're not. And the reality is, if you are trying to be someone you're not, how can the people who are meant for you find you right? They can't. So just let go of perfect. Just show up as you are. And that is the way to be.

[Brooke Richie Babbage]

Hi, folks. So this is Brooke, Richie Babbage, and I'm bringing in the rear, closing us out with a meta darling that I am going to recommend. Folks, kill let go of things that you're doing just because you've always done them that way. And I think one of the threads through all of the things we've talked about here, whether it's posting on social media or reaching out to the same stale prospects, is that we can fall into patterns of doing things because they are habit or doing things because this is just how we've learned to do them. And I think one of the biggest, highest leverage darlings you can kill in 2025 is actually coming at things the other way and asking yourself, where do we want to be at the end of 2025.

[Rachel Babauer]

Right.

[Brooke Richie Babbage]

What is the impact we want to have? What is the money we want to raise? What do we want our team to look like? Right? What's the vision? What's our North Star? And then what are the things we need to do to get there? And anything that doesn't fit that, let's go of it. Whether that is a program that you've started or always run, because it's just like, that's our program. And it's like, you know what I call your snowflake program? It's like the thing that we do that's so special. Maybe it's not. Like, maybe your data would actually tell you that your community has a different set of needs now, or that your donors are resonating with a different thing than you might want them to resonate with. You might be really excited about all of the content and emails that you've been sharing around issue A. But actually, when you look at your data and you talk to your supporters and you talk to your community, they care about issue B. Let go of issue A. Right. Let go of things, because you have just done it that way. Look at your information, look at your data, think about your North Star and be strategic about getting to that North Star. And anything that doesn't move you in that direction, cut it.

[Rhea Wong]

All right. This is really insightful stuff. So thanks, ladies. The term that I think about is rough seas make good sailors. And I think 2025 is going to be rough, y'all. Like, we don't know what's going to happen, but we know it's going to be bumpy. It's going to be bumpy, right? We're going to have to, like, buckle up, get ready for a ride. Whether that means changes in federal funding, state funding, attacks on dei, attacks on immigrants, mental health, trans rights, it's going to be a whole lot of stuff coming down the pike. And I think the ones who are going to survive and thrive are the ones that are going to be nimble, resilient, able to pivot and meet the moment. So I hope that this has provided some food for thought. Hit me [e-mail] and let me know what, darling. Are you committed to killing in 2020? Until next time, I'll see you later. Adios, ladies.

[Cindy Wagman]

Adios.

[Rhea Wong]

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