Comments on: Debunking “Accountability to Donors” http://hildygottlieb.com/2008/05/04/debunking-accountability-to-donors/ Practical tools, support and inspiration for changing the world Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:10:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Hildy http://hildygottlieb.com/2008/05/04/debunking-accountability-to-donors/#comment-7952 Hildy Thu, 29 May 2008 20:31:23 +0000 http://hildygottlieb.com/?p=130#comment-7952 Thanks, Bill. I am reminded of Renata Rafferty's terrific book, Don't Just Give It Away, where she shows donors how to do all the due diligence in the world BEFORE they give their gift. The thought of having control AFTER the gift is given - well I appreciated Put Barber's comments at Give and Take, where he said (I'm paraphrasing), "Once you've given a gift, it's no longer yours!" And I always love that Henry Ford quote - thanks for reminding me of it! HG Thanks, Bill. I am reminded of Renata Rafferty’s terrific book, Don’t Just Give It Away, where she shows donors how to do all the due diligence in the world BEFORE they give their gift. The thought of having control AFTER the gift is given - well I appreciated Put Barber’s comments at Give and Take, where he said (I’m paraphrasing), “Once you’ve given a gift, it’s no longer yours!”

And I always love that Henry Ford quote - thanks for reminding me of it!
HG

]]> By: Bill Huddleston http://hildygottlieb.com/2008/05/04/debunking-accountability-to-donors/#comment-7951 Bill Huddleston Thu, 29 May 2008 20:14:37 +0000 http://hildygottlieb.com/?p=130#comment-7951 Hildy, I also got here via Give and Take, where I posted this comment: One of the biggest blunders of the nonprofit world in the past 50 years is the excessive emphasis donating gifts that are restriced to “program” dollars. The nonprofit sector has trained donors to not give them unrestricted funds, and now they complain incessently about how hard it is to get unrestricted funds. Give to the charities you think have a chance, and let the visionaries be visionaries. Is this “market driven?” – I don’t know and I don’t care — there’s a quote by Henry Ford that is appropriate – “If I had given the people what they wanted – I would have invented a faster horse.” If the charity does not meet your expectations, do not continue to give to them in the future. That part of the equation is “market” driven. Bill Huddleston CFC Expert: www.cfcfundraising.com Hildy,
I also got here via Give and Take, where I posted this comment:
One of the biggest blunders of the nonprofit world in the past 50 years is the excessive emphasis donating gifts that are restriced to “program” dollars. The nonprofit sector has trained donors to not give them unrestricted funds, and now they complain incessently about how hard it is to get unrestricted funds.

Give to the charities you think have a chance, and let the visionaries be visionaries. Is this “market driven?” – I don’t know and I don’t care — there’s a quote by Henry Ford that is appropriate – “If I had given the people what they wanted – I would have invented a faster horse.”

If the charity does not meet your expectations, do not continue to give to them in the future. That part of the equation is “market” driven.

Bill Huddleston
CFC Expert: http://www.cfcfundraising.com

]]> By: Hildy http://hildygottlieb.com/2008/05/04/debunking-accountability-to-donors/#comment-7905 Hildy Tue, 27 May 2008 03:37:23 +0000 http://hildygottlieb.com/?p=130#comment-7905 Thanks, Jeremy - and welcome! I appreciate the very practical nature of the points you raised at the linked blog entry. It is indeed a lot of work to nurture a large number of supporters. But it's also a lot of work to do everything organizations do! Is that work worth it, when the end result is a ton of supporters - not just donors, but real friends, who will help in every way possible? (But then, you can guess my bias there!) Again, thanks for being here with us! Hildy Thanks, Jeremy - and welcome! I appreciate the very practical nature of the points you raised at the linked blog entry. It is indeed a lot of work to nurture a large number of supporters. But it’s also a lot of work to do everything organizations do! Is that work worth it, when the end result is a ton of supporters - not just donors, but real friends, who will help in every way possible? (But then, you can guess my bias there!)

Again, thanks for being here with us!
Hildy

]]> By: Jeremy Gregg http://hildygottlieb.com/2008/05/04/debunking-accountability-to-donors/#comment-7904 Jeremy Gregg Tue, 27 May 2008 02:49:04 +0000 http://hildygottlieb.com/?p=130#comment-7904 Great blog -- I got to it via Philanthropy.com's Give & Take blog. I posted some comments there, but wanted to share some similar thoughts that I had on this issue in one of my previous blogs. Apologies for the long URL, but here it is: <a href="http://theraiser.blogspot.com/2007/12/would-you-rather-have-one-100000-donor.html" rel="nofollow">http://theraiser.blogspot.com/2007/12/would-you-rather-have-one-100000-donor.html</a> Look forward to reading more of your blog, which I added to my RSS reader. Thanks! Jeremy Gregg, Editor The Raiser's Razor http://theraiser.blogspot.com Great blog — I got to it via Philanthropy.com’s Give & Take blog. I posted some comments there, but wanted to share some similar thoughts that I had on this issue in one of my previous blogs.

Apologies for the long URL, but here it is:

http://theraiser.blogspot.com/2007/12/would-you-rather-have-one-100000-donor.html

Look forward to reading more of your blog, which I added to my RSS reader. Thanks!

Jeremy Gregg, Editor
The Raiser’s Razor
http://theraiser.blogspot.com

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