Every day, I see advancement teams make decisions that discourage acts of generosity or involvement from others.
- The direct mail thank you note and receipt for the donor’s most recent gift that also includes an ask for another gift.
- The governing board or advisory council meeting agenda that only presents the wonderful and positive updates of the organization and fails to share areas where additional investments made by these influential members would be supremely helpful.
- The special event or meeting that could have been planned to coincide with an athletics event or an arts performance (and, thus, draw a bigger audience), but instead was planned for another weekend presumably because that timing was more convenient for the advancement team.
- The major gifts donor cultivation visit in which the gift officer departs without having invited the donor to do, or attend, or give, or introduce, or participate in some – perhaps small – additional way than what they are currently doing.
- The “family campaign,” at your institution that is primarily communicated through the Human Resources orientation process for new employees. There is a reason our colleagues who do the important work of Human Resources have not chosen to be advancement professionals.
Perhaps we need a philanthropic version of the Hippocratic Oath:
“Practice two things in your dealings with others: either encourage or do not discourage their spirit of generosity.”
First, do no harm.
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