There are rules in fundraising, part 2

Rule #2

 Not Everybody Knows All the Rules…including old guys like me.

          When I first began raising funds, what seems like 200 years ago, I did well to find my way to my desk or the copy machine.  We didn’t have computers or e-mail yet, there was nothing like FedEx, or even fax machines.  I think we had a telex, you know the kind of loud pounding equipment that you always see in World War II movies?  Thankfully Gutenberg had invented the printing press by this time so we did have books; and I read everything I could get my hands on.  Mostly, I was left to reading direct-response tomes written by what I imagined to be funny little guys in glasses and bow ties, sitting at the end of the hall in commercial advertising agencies.  Even then, in 1980, Madison Avenue was just beginning to believe in direct response as a legitimate channel for communication and sales; the largest single substantiating fact being that it was an entirely measurable form of advertising, and the best thing was, you could determine the effectiveness of a campaign within weeks!  Guys like Richard Hodgson and Bob Stone no longer had to wait for the Arbitron or Nielson Ratings to tell them their Market share.  They could create their own market share by the use of direct-mail, coupons, newspaper inserts, flyers or door-hangers.  And then came Ron Popeil, the famous TV infomercial pitchman, who launched the revolutionizing Pocket Fisherman and was later replaced as the on-air infomercial guru by the late Billy Mays! 

      In the 1980’s, fundraising executives were just then discovering that blue Sharpie underlining and the bolding of text in direct-mail letters, made a positive difference in their response.  So they marked up everything, including each other I imagine, in blue underlining and giant parentheses until they discovered their next magic bullet–personalization!  It was with great joy that they tested the use of mailing labels against addressing with dot-matrix printers that could actually print directly on the envelopes!  Ah, it was a glorious time; the search for magic bullets was on like a gold rush.  Fortunes were made by enterprising consultants as they offered up their next big thing.  

          During this same time, in the world of philanthropy, there was the beginning of a quiet movement taking shape.  In some cases it was forming within the ranks of nonprofit organizations or ministries; the fledgling for-profit agencies serving nonprofits also made significant contributions to this effort.  This grass-roots migration came in the form of discovering principles vs. tactics.  I’ve chosen here, to call them The Rules, which I’ve already admitted, goes against my aversion to authority, but still seems to be the best way to articulate the unbroken truth of the principles that produce the greatest net income for nonprofits. 

          People like Claude Grizzard, Maggie Haggberg, Jerry Huntsinger, Tim Kersten, Jim Killion, Jerry Panas, Richard Perry, Russ Reid, Bob Screen, Wiley Stinnett, Bill Sturtevant, Richard Viguerie and Mal Warwick emerged as the practitioners of proven principles in fundraising.  There are several others not mentioned here, not by intended exclusion but, perhaps, rather by my lack of knowledge, unconscious jealousy or just plain petty disrespect.

          I have personally had the honor of knowing most of these folks, worked directly with several of them and learned from them all.  They each have their own areas of strength, but in general they have contributed greatly to the advancement of philanthropy by their discovery and use of the rules of fundraising.

          It’s difficult to find people inside or outside the nonprofit world, who have knowledge of a significant number of the rules.  Many people believe that their background in marketing or business qualifies them to serve as fundraisers; a great number of them have found that it’s rarely the case.  Fundraising has its own rules, and most find themselves struggling until they discover this ego-bruising truth.