Questions for nonprofits are both valid and valuable

In the wake of some ‘expose’ type stories in the Canadian and UK media recently there has been a certain amount of alarm bell ringing when it comes to the management and fiscal acumen of some nonprofits. Personally I think its really a storm in a teacup as the vast majority of nonprofits provide exceptional return on donations and keep refining their fundraising methodologies to reflect a society that is changing rapidly in terms of technology and cause support. What has not changed is that philanthropy remains not only a positive aspect of the society we live in but also provides exceptional funding, research and action for causes that range from the smallest campaigns to global disaster relief.

If anything, the recent stories that some nonprofits are not providing the best efficiencies when choosing support should highlight what all  nonprofits should already be doing: an ongoing/constant internal assessment or evaluation of performance so that donors feel secure in placing their support with you and that the cost of fundraising itself falls within established benchmarks. Too much hyperbole attached to the recent stories makes the opposite of common sense come to the surface, fundraising doesn’t get accomplished for free and just like every other operation of business a cost must be built in to cover the cost of collecting funds. I’ve written before about how a .org must budget the cost of fundraising within their overheads to a benchmark and the long term goal is fund expansion and not stagnation, the perfect nonprofit scenario would lead to the organisation eventually being able to say ‘mission accomplished’. The role of fundraising partners is critical and should provide the best in expertise as well as results that are cost conscious, modern and can be measured effectively in real time. Investment in technology, banking, payment processing, call centres, webdesign, social media, printing, event management and fundraising activities all have a place and a value for a nonprofit looking to gain and maintain support. Benchmarking these costs and reporting on the effectiveness of these ventures not only makes sense but also will provide your donors with the peace of mind that efficient, ethical stewardship of their donations is taking place at all times.

Large nonprofits generally are and always should be allocating some of their resources to deliver quantified research, valuable data that presents information that the public has access to and can be interpreted in full. The transparency of a nonprofit is paramount, effective fundraising has defined value and the cost of fundraising itself has a place within that structure. The best organizations base a program around what is proven to work and create a model that allows for and predicts change. In turn they will collect detailed information collating the results of these programs, analyse the effectiveness and then make changes for new campaigns accordingly. I think showing supporting evidence as to how a non profit uses that information to remain at the front of fundraising strategies is crucial, achieving donorship goals is not as simple as doing the exact same thing year after year and expecting identical results.

Moreover, the industry itself is dedicated to ethics, with guidelines that dictate operational methods which illustrate what a nonprofit should be positioned to do. Often when the media grab hold of a story they try to say it’s the tip of the iceberg but in this case its more like a few shards of ice that were shed from an industry that is fundamentally doing good. As a donor you should be able to ask sensible questions that seek support of your decision. A nonprofit can and should provide data that explains the impact of their fundraising, how they collate data and how they respond to changes that the information they acquire demands. The impact and spending of funding should be visible and measurable but perhaps most importantly a donor must understand the true results and goal of a non profit. Fundraising should not simply be a means to continue fundraising activities annually, but a long-term results based goal should be clear and understandable.

As a donor you should be able to ask the questions that truly matter and as a nonprofit those answers must be close at hand. With that said lets get back to what we do best.