Do we let our donors in?

What walls are you putting up between your organization and the donors who support you?

You might be thinking, “None!” But I challenge you to really think about it.

Many a times, we try to sanitize problems before presenting the facts. We think that the donor might not be interested in it but more of ten than not, I have found that passionate donors would like to have real facts on the difference they make rather than the artificial flowers that we dish out.

A few months back, I was having a chat with one of my donors, who supported a large project. The project involved surgical intervention for 100 children born with congenital deformity, and as the process is, we screen the identified children and select them for the surgery. And on project completion, I shared with him the impact report of the project which lists the beneficiaries of the project and has info-graphical analyses on the beneficiary demographics etc and the patient stories.

Though he liked the report, the question he asked is what I had never expected.

He asked “Who are the children who did not get selected ?”

I told him about a child who has congenital heart anomaly and could not be operated. I told him about some more children who were rejected due to mal-nourishment.

So, his next question – “Why aren’t these things on the report?”

At the end the donor not only pitched in with additional support for the left-out children but has also budgeted a larger support for us this year.

So again, I challenge you to think about this: what do you put between your organization and your donors?

Do you make a point of keeping donors far away from the work that you do? Do you sanitize the problems you’re solving in the world so that donors don’t hear the dirty details?

Or do you offer opportunities for donors to get their hands dirty?

Do you invite donors to meet the people their gifts are impacting?

If your organization’s beneficiaries live in other countries, are there ever opportunities for donors to travel there? To see the well their generous donation built?

Sometimes the walls we put up are more subtle.

That’s another great example of the walls we put up; why must we say “WE” so often? We accomplish this, we change that… Why can’t we say that the donor did it? Why do we have to put some sense of formality in our appeals? Something between the work and the donor.

Why can’t we give donors opportunities to feel more a part of our organization? To allow for deeper engagement… even if they get their hands dirty!

Letting your guard down is a risk… but the reward is deeper engagement, and that is well worth it!