Calmstock

[Co-written with Roger Sametz; originally posted at Sametz.com]

Connecting your value and values to those of your constituents can give youa leg up.

The nonprofit world is a crowded one, and it’s only becoming more so. According to the Independent Sector, there are more than 1.4 million 501c3 organizations operating in the United States, and from 1998 to 2008, the number of charitable organizations registered with the IRS grew by 73 percent.

As the number of nonprofit organizations increases, so does the difficulty of raising funds. And with costs rising and support from foundations and government agencies flat or declining, more and more organizations are seeking to diversify revenue streams. They are working to increase earned income by appealing to a wider set of constituencies through an ever-expanding array of communication modes—all while trying to bolster the flow of unearned dollars from foundations, corporations, government, and individual sources. Building and sustaining this income mix is a complicated job, and no component is more important to current success and long-term sustainability than realizing the potential of significant support from individual donors.

Of course, it seems every organization is trying to boost its individual donor efforts. Competition for major donors is fierce, the landscape is cluttered and increasingly noisy, and every dollar secured is hard fought.Success is about knowing who your friends are and, perhaps more importantly, who they could be. Raising money from people whose values and personal vision align with yours—people with whom you can have a dialogue—is a lot more fruitful than simply making “asks.” Before you can raise funds, you need to raise friends.

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