Last week I attended the DMA Nonprofit Conference in NYC. It had been a few years and I’m pleased to report that the programs are much more engaging than I remember in years past. From the keynote speaker to the session in general I found them of interest. One session entitled The Retention of Attention: Metrics Beyond Donations that was exemplary.
The panel for this session was:
- Ashley Delamar, Div. Dir. of Dev., The Salvation Army/NSC Divisional HQ’s
- Jacqui Groseth, Marketing & Comm. Dir., Union Rescue Mission, Los Angeles
- Glenn Waterman, Dir. of Dev., The Leprosy Mission Canada
- Moderator: Bill Jacobs, President, Donor-Central
After the presentations, I had the opportunity to ask the question I posed in my last blog: based on my conversation with an E.D. of a nonprofit based in NYC, and the changes she is witnessing in how fundraising is conducted, what does the future of “philanthropy,” or major giving, look like?
The panel gave great answers. In general, they all stressed that we need new metrics for donor involvement (sound familiar to those reading my blogs. In particular, they talked about what motivates younger donors.
The late 20s/early 30s donors – the “up and coming” – want to be more involved in the mission of the organization. Ashley Delamar indicated that he had a significant donor who pressed for certain goals that were not on The Salvation Army’s “agenda” but that were of importance to the donor. Instead of turning down – or turning away – this potential funding and donor – they requested that he become involved in the process of realizing his vision for the organization and for his goals. They “engaged” him to a much fuller extent into the workings of the organization – thereby realizing his dream, achieving his goals, gaining far greater achievements for the community, and cultivating further engagement and donations from him (and his colleagues).
It appears that the “new paradigm” is to seek and allow these newer/younger donors to be more involved. To engage them in the "process." They seek to be more involved in the direction of the organization – so the new reality is allowing them to be involved, to “step up” and help bring new focus to the issues that excite and commit them. This makes them more embedded and more valuable.
I was excited and encouraged to see that there are paradigm shifts going on so that, as always, we are adopting to the “new generation” of donors. I encourage you to let me know of other changes you see taking place in the world of major donors.
