Those of us in the nonprofit “business” often lose sight of our purpose. Often we think we are beholden to the donor, which is true to a great extent, but the rubber really meets the road when we evaluate our programmatic success. In other words, measuring our performance based on how we actually fulfill the mission of the nonprofit is of great importance.

Did we do what we said we would do with the money raised? Did we move the needle just a little by improving lives, moving hearts, changing minds? Did we affect change??

How often have you worried about the ROI of a recent appeal, or the outcome the latest grant you applied for - what’s the average gift, what’s the response rate, did I write the grant proposal well, did I say the right things, was it professional, will they give us the funds we requested or perhaps we are watching the incoming mail returns of a recent direct mail annual appeal – what is the response rate, what is the cost per dollar raised, what is the average gift size and so on and so on.

These issues keep us up at night. We find ourselves worrying about raising more funds then the previous year or previous campaign.

But its not about the money. I mean it is, because we can’t accomplish anything unless we have money – didn’t someone say money makes the world go ’round??? But money by itself is meaningless.

So much of what we typically measure things by, as a society or individually, center on money. But look where it has led us – a complete meltdown of the WORLDWIDE financial markets. What a great leveling factor to see the “haves” actually have less,  and the “have nots” probably having what they had the day before.

Well, my thought is this. We in the fundraising sphere are too disconnected from the actual programs we work to support. We view raising money as an end onto itself – we are severed from the real work that the funds support. This isn’t good.

As fundraisers, we need to connect ourselves more with the actual charity work that that we perform with the money raised. If we don’t align ourselves with the true mission of the organization, where the rubber meets the road, we are simply a meaningless cog in a wheel.

It has to go much deeper than this. Because at the end of the day all we are is a conduit, a medium, between the funder and the person being funded. We are the liaison between two parties – those that want to help a particular cause and those that are recipients. After all, as a donor, if you could, wouldn’t you want to give your money to the person actually needing help rather then going through an organization, in many cases a multi-million dollar organization with lots of employees making lots of money??

The answer is usually yes. Most donors want their money to go as seamlessly and as efficiently as possible to the person or cause being supported. They realize we, the fundraiser, are conduits, consequently, they rely on us to be efficient, effective, honest, and professional. They know we are the intermediary. 

Our job has to be the donors eyes and ears. Their surrogate. We must truely be the conduit and represent the donor in the best way possible.