Shiny Object Syndrome: Killer of effective fundraising [Nonprofit Diseases]

Scene from an old TV ad:

Person 1: What’s that?

Person 2: It’s new!

Person 1: New?

One or both of those people has Shiny Object Syndrome (SOS). They get totally sidetracked from what the thing they’re looking at is for does by the fact that it’s new.

That’s a human trait. It happens to all of us at times.

Keeping up with change is smart.

But when you go overboard, you can fall into Shiny Object Syndrome.

How can you tell the difference between SOS and keeping up with what’s happening around us?

• It’s SOS if you neglect the channels and approaches that are working now in favor of new things that might work.
• It’s SOS if your main argument against something like direct mail is “Everyone is tired of it.”
• It’s SOS if you think the shiny new object also signals a fundamental change in human psychology — like, “Starting now, young people will become great donors!”

Here are some things about newness to keep in mind:

• Most new things will never really pan out. Everything has a moment of exciting hype early in its life. The hype has nothing to do with ultimate value — it’s created by people who want to sell the new stuff.
• Those that do live up to their promise usually take a long time to get there. This is especially true in fundraising, because most donors are older — the last group of people to adapt new things.
• No matter how much external things change, human psychology doesn’t.

Keep those things in mind, and you will be safe from Shiny Object Syndrome.

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