If we believe our job is to delight all donors we will end up frustrated, disappointed, and burned out.
Not only is delighting all donors an impossible goal, it’s also the wrong goal.
While we know from research and practice that most donors give because of a belief in the goodness of our institutional mission, donors give due to many different motivations. They also have a variety of interests. And, they feel appreciated in an assortment of ways. We can’t possible delight them all, nor should we try.
A far more worthy goal for all advancement professionals is to remind donors.
Remind donors that we believe in our mission and that it inspires us.
Remind donors that our mission is central to all we do.
Remind donors that our mission makes the world more educated, healthier, more just, more empathetic, more sustainable, and less fractious.
We should concern ourselves far less with trying to delight every donor and concern ourselves far more with reminding them of the virtues embedded in our mission.
When we do that consistently, we will end up with more delighted donors.
