All blogs| Archive. A fundraising Utopia What if we had the courage and vision to imagine a different world for donors? Part 2 of 5

Opinion
Second in a five-part feature on
the future of fundraising, from
Ken Burnett, author of Relationship Fundraising, (1992).

The first of this series appeared in November 2014 and the final part was published in mid-May 2015.

Intro
The future of fundraising.

Part 1
Why fundraising has to change.

Part 2
A fundraising Utopia.

Part 3
Some keys to
fresh fundraising success. Three mega-opportunities
for fundraisers.

Part 4
Marketing was a mistake.

Part 5
Fundraising and the rule of law.

 

Ken’s storytelling book (which, not entirely coincidentally, focuses many of its pages on remedies for the issues opposite) is reviewed here and here and you can buy it here.

You can order Ken’s latest book
The essence of Campaigning Fundraising here. Please follow this link for reviews too.

 

 

 

Imagine…

• Real commitment to improving the donor experience.
• A radical vision for the future, where fundraisers become something donors want and love.
• Fundraisers working together to achieve the ideal.
• Substantial investment in staff and systems.
• Patience. The ability to take a long view.
• Integrity, accountability, an absence of sales hype.
• Value, high standards, clear ideals, exemplary donor care.
• Donors choose what they want to give, when, where and how.
• Fundraisers become famous for frequent, fast, fabulous feedback...
• ...and for consistently brilliant customer service.
  
• Genuine win/win partnerships with donors, carefully managed by fundraisers.

Imagine an impeccable experience for our customers.

What you are imagining is fundraising’s equivalent of these people:

An impeccable customer experience. Consistently.

THE UK BOOK TRADE: what Amazon found:

• A fragmented industry making low profits.
• Chronic under-investment.
• Dismal customer experience.
• Poor customer retention.
• Limited use of technology.
• Steady and persistent decline.
  

THE UK BOOK TRADE: what Amazon did:

• Took a long view.
• Invested bravely in people, systems and service.
  
• Developed new standards of customer care.
• Waited patiently.
• Cleaned up.

Amazon UK now thrives and dominates the UK book trade as well as serving many other sectors too. Amazon customers expect and experience an entirely different level of service and support from what was around pre-Amazon. Instructive though their case study might be, something like Amazon couldn’t happen for fundraising, because…

• Short-term thinking so seriously limits the not-for-profit sector.
• Lack of vision and aspiration too.
• Chronic under-investment.
• Absence of unity, inability to invest and work collectively.
• Shackled by insistence upon immediate return on investment.
• Plus failure to work at understanding and appreciating what donor customers really want.

So, our donors remain condemned to…
…A DEPLORABLE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE.

This may seem a touch harsh. But when considered in the light of all the many ‘mystery donor’ tests conducted by numerous organisations and individuals in all the main fundraising markets around the world over the last 30 years, it might seem to be a considerable understatement.

Mystery shopping tests are a shocking indictment of the state of customer service in our industry. Check them out on SOFII here, here and here. And please feel free to email me your thoughts on this series here.