Category: Fun

Brooks’ Fundraising Law Concerning Post-Pandemic Blame Shifting: Organizations that cancelled fundraising during the pandemic because they believed it would anger donors are the organizations most likely to believe that donors will not respond to fundraising now because there is no crisis to spur them on. More Laws of Fundraising

You’ve heard about “donor fatigue.” It’s a theoretical state where donors tire of hearing about some specific topic — sometimes philanthropy in general — and they become unresponsive. There’s a pair of Brooks’ Laws that help clarify the realities of “donor fatigue”: Donor Fatigue Law #1: A Priori Anyone who cites “donor fatigue” as a…

I have arthritis. It sucks. But it could be a lot worse. Not too long ago, someone who had my type of arthritis for as long as I’ve had it would not be able to type, walk, play a musical instrument, or many other activities. Thanks to treatment, I can do those things. I’m deeply…

Maybe you remember the Boss Corollary to Brooks’ First Law of Fundraising Effectiveness: The more your boss hates the fundraising, the better it will do. That inverse relationship between fundraising effectiveness and boss-love also applies to colleagues are not the boss. Which leads to these corollaries to the First Law: Corollary #1 There is no…

If you are of a certain age and took piano lessons as a kid, you might remember a book called Music Play for Every Day. It was first published in 1928, but was still in use in my childhood, some decades (ahem) later. (And you can still buy it used on Amazon!) And if you…

Donor complaints rule the lives of many fundraisers, a fact that is captured by the 5th Law of Fundraising: Donor complaints are a stronger force than anything described in physics or quantum mechanics. But that’s not all. Here’s the 1st Addendum to the 5th Law: Imagined donor complaints are an even stronger force than that.…

Colors can pack in quite a lot of emotional information. But if there were a color that somehow compelled viewers to pay attention, I figure we’d know about it because: It would have been discovered by advertisers or propagandists many years ago. It would be licensed for use selling soft drinks and athletic shoes, thus…

This matrix illustrates an odd tendency I’ve seen in fundraising projects. The vertical scale is about the potential impact of the project: High or low. The horizontal scale is about the quality of execution of the project: Rushed, sloppy, and slapdash or Careful, well-built, and excellent. X identifies the two quadrants where most fundraising is.…