Cultivate What Grows: Letting go of Non-responsive Donors

Kevin L. Brown's LinkedIn Post that caught my eye.

Ever felt like you're chasing donors who just aren’t that into you? It's time to rethink your strategy. This episode of Let's Talk Fundraising takes a deep dive into why some donors remain elusive and how to stop wasting your time. Inspired by Kevin L Brown's thought-provoking LinkedIn post and insights from sales expert Liz Wendling, we explore the signs that it's time to move on from unresponsive donors. Discover practical tips on maintaining your dignity and confidence, turning your focus to those who truly resonate with your mission. 

Drawing wisdom from the resilient gardeners of New Mexico, we emphasize the principle of "cultivating what grows." Not every donor relationship is worth the chase, just as not every plant thrives in the desert. By aligning our efforts with those who are genuinely interested, we can foster meaningful relationships that lead to transformative support for our communities. Tune in to learn how to break free from desperation cycles and invest in connections that truly matter.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:03

Hey there, hi, and welcome back to let's Talk Fundraising. This is going to be a short but sweet episode this week. You know, sometimes we don't need to do a deep dive into a topic to explore it or to make a point, but I was perusing LinkedIn the other day and a post from Kevin L Brown caught my eye. He started it off with ignore the donors who ignore you. Maybe not a totally controversial take, but, as I was thinking about it, how many of us end up chasing donors who don't want to be caught? We've probably sent them a hundred emails since we joined our organization, maybe a dozen direct mail, letters, phone calls and asked for an introduction from somebody that knows them. And when we do get an appointment, they reschedule it at the last minute, leaving us hanging.

Speaker 1: 1:53

So why are we chasing people who don't want to engage with us? Is it because they are rich and we hope that we can convince them to give us a boatload of money? Are we trying to achieve some kind of volume metric in our work? What is it about? I kind of think of it like dating when we're single and searching for love, where every other single person is a potential date, mate or marriage material, we start putting really desperate vibes out into the world and, whether people can identify what the issue is or not, they're definitely feeling uneasy about us. But when we have the confidence to stand in our strength, knowing that we are delivering amazing products and services through our organizations, people are attracted to that light we're emitting from deep within. It's almost like a beacon reaching out in all directions, calling in the souls that are attracted to what we're doing. So how can we break ourselves out of these cycles of desperation and trying to catch people that don't want to be caught?

Speaker 1: 2:56

Liz Wendling, a sales expert, offers these five tips to recognize when to stop. First, if your donor isn't willing to set up another meeting, stop asking. Second, if they don't ask tough questions about what you're pitching, they aren't all that interested, and this is even more true if they won't even answer your tough questions. Third, they're not open to sharing information. If they're being secretive or coy, they don't want you to know anything more about them and they're hoping you're going to stop and go away. Fourth, they don't return calls and emails. Sure, everybody gets busy, but if you've been trying for over a month or you have more than five attempts, you're starting to give off desperate vibes. Give it a break and see if they come back to you. And fifth, they're not happy to see you. As fundraisers, we should be bringing joy everywhere we go. If this individual isn't happy to see you, they're not your person. And if nobody is happy to see you, maybe you need to do some self-examination about how you're showing up in the world. But it got me thinking about something.

Speaker 1: 4:10

Gardeners in my home state of New Mexico say Cultivate what grows. Not everything is going to grow in the desert. Not everything is going to grow at our high elevations, where days can burn past 100 degrees and nights drop by 40. So wise gardeners, cultivate what grows. They put their energy, their time and their investments into the seeds that will bear fruit. They will sustain their livelihood, their families and their communities. And it's not that different in fundraising. When we invest in the people and connections that respond to the work of our organizations, we are able to tend to those relationships and then we're able to harvest the fruits of our labor with beautiful gifts that mean the world to our donors, who are giving them and make a transformative impact in the communities that we serve. So let's all take some fundraising advice from our high desert gardeners and let's cultivate what grows. Have a great day, my friends.