Not to be a Negative Nelly, but do y’all remember last December?
Last December we had the triple-downer of:
- a sharp stock market decline;
- a government shutdown; and
- general political divisiveness.
The net effect was one of the poorest performing fundraising Decembers of the past decade.
If you’ve read the news lately, among the headlines are topics such as:
- stock market nervousness over the China trade-war (and September/October historically tends to be a common month for crashes);
- concern of a government shutdown on September 30 over the Administration’s plan to cutoff of international aid; and
- general political divisiveness.
In times of economic uncertainty, donors are hesitant to add new organizations to their giving portfolios. This could mean a rough acquisition season.
However, your most loyal donors tend to step up their giving during adverse economic environments.
Hopefully I’m wrong and we’ll have a stellar fall acquisition season where the money just rolls in. But on the chance that my concerns are justified, it might be good to start planning for a CYE telemarketing campaign to your best donors to fill the potential gap. I know a lot of organizations (more correctly, their BODs) hate TM. But may I suggest one piece of advice: get over it. TM works. And in economic adverse times, your organization needs to utilize all the tools available to secure the funds you need to fulfill your mission.