No one can tell us if a particular direct mail package will succeed in encouraging more first-time donors to give.
We can’t know – for certain – if the email announcing a matching gift will encourage giving from current donors to increase enough to meet the match.
It is not a certainty that our off-campus event will attract our highest attendance number this year based on a new marketing strategy.
Sometimes we want a sense of certainty (“if we do “x,” then “y” will happen,” for example). But that should never be the goal. In fact, almost nothing, including the force of gravity and the rate at which time passes, are certainties in all settings.
As leaders, we shouldn’t seek certainties. Instead, should ask ourselves (and our colleagues) a different set of questions. Questions like:
- What kind of giving culture are we wanting to create and how will this initiative reinforce that culture?
- How do we want our givers to feel from our stewardship efforts and will this particular effort create that type of feeling?
- What are the main reasons why our non-givers haven’t yet responded and do we think this invitation to give addresses those reasons?
When we start by asking, “Will it work to get the result we want now?”, we are beginning without addressing the context and the larger culture we should be attempting to shape. Just because an initiative or particular message may work in the short-term does not mean it is the most helpful, healthy strategy for the longer-term.
But, if we first ask, “What kind of culture do we want to create around giving?”, we then have the context to better judge if our efforts will lead us toward or away from that culture.
Because even the force of earth’s gravity changes based on the circumstances.
