What Does Sustainable Mean?

Sustainable funding happens when you have a large enough pool of donors giving that you can easily cover your ongoing operational expenses, even when some donors don’t give.

Once again, it’s all about taking care of your donors (remember the goose and golden egg?).

When you value the donor over the donation, relationships are easier to form. When people feel needed and wanted, they’ll keep giving. It’s not about how much you can raise from a fundraiser. It’s also not about selling things. It’s about viewing donors as a valued part of your team. They feel included, they believe in the work your nonprofit does, and they TRUST you.

Unfortunately, most nonprofits get so focused on the money that they treat their donors as an ATM. They don’t thank donors well and thank-you letters drop to the bottom of the priority list when things get busy. Donors are wondering what happened to their donation and start to doubt their decision to give (this KILLS future fundraising!).

Taking care of your donors should be a top priority if you want to create sustainability. Time should be allocated for newsletters and the content thoughtfully selected so that it meets the donor’s need for information. Your donor data should be kept clean, phone calls and emails returned, and nothing haphazardly happening – everything that happens is strategic and fits into the overall fundraising plan.