Guess which industry? Half of employees want to quit and 60% of customers do
I'm going to tell you some facts about an industry I know well.
1. Retention rates are a horrible 41% (meaning the majority of "customers" are lost every year)
2. Half of the employees say they want to quit their job
3. One quarter of bosses say they fired the last worker in that job
You're probably thinking, seriously? What industry is that broken?
The answer? Fundraising. Nonprofits retain only 40% of their donors. Half of professional fundraisers say they want to quit their job. On top of that, one in four nonprofit leaders report that their previous development director was fired. (The source for the donor retention numbers is Bloomerang; the data on fundraisers is from a depressing new report from CompassPoint and the Haas, Jr. Fund: UnderDeveloped: A National Study of Challenges Facing Nonprofit Fundraising.)
Why are things such a mess? Here are the short answers: Nonprofits do a poor job of thanking donors and reporting on their impact; they don't hire qualified fundraisers; and they leave their fundraisers off in a departmental wilderness, insufficiently supported by leadership, the board, technology and strong strategic plans.
My advice is this. Before you take a job in nonprofit fundraising (and there are lots of vacant jobs out there!) or hire a fundraiser, do the following.
1. Confirm the nonprofit organization warmly embraces the need to fundraise. As explained by Kim Klein, “Money is one of the great taboos in our culture. We are taught not to think about it or ask about it… As with the subjects of sex, death, mental illness, religion, politics, and other taboos, people say little about their experiences with money. With people so carefully taught that it is rude to talk about money, it’s certainly not an easy task to ask for it.” For an organization to succeed in fundraising, it has to view asking for money as a beautiful partnership between people who work to make the world a better place - and those who join in helping them.
2. Ensure the organization sees fundraising as everyone's job - as reflected in the way the leadership, board and staff collaboratively support and coordinate with the development director. Together, they set and hold themselves collectively accountable for goals.
3. Make sure the fundraiser is well trained - or can get trained. A huge problem is that many fundraisers aren't qualified for the job. One in four executive directors (24%) in the CompassPoint report said their development directors have no experience or are novice at “current and prospective donor research.” Among the smallest nonprofits, the number was 32%. If you're a fundraiser, get well trained. And if you're a nonprofit, hire qualified people or invest in turning your fundraisers into qualified people by paying for them to get the help they need to do their job.
One last, critical thought: All nonprofits and fundraisers must invest in treating donors like partners, thanking them regularly and conscientiously reporting on the impact they had. That's the way to fix the grim picture you see below.
We have a lot of work to do in our field. We'd better start now - the good of the world is truly at stake.
Service Emissary Extraordinaire
10 年Sounds like individuals involved in fundraising and non-profits need to cultivate a culture of thankfulness. Don't take your donors, even if they are long-time supporters, for granted.
Chief, Overseas Employment Policy Development at US Dept. of State
11 年As a donor (albeit, not a big one), the groups I continue to give to year after year are those few that regularly tell me what they are doing and what they are achieving. And if I get too many fundraising solicitations (snail or digital), I know that iswhere my money is being spent - not on those efforts for which I am giving. I wonder how many organziations actually talk with their donors????
As someone who works and lives completely outside of this realm, the most lay of laymen, my interpretation of these statistics is as follows (if you haven't figured out by now to take this analysis with a grain of salt, well ... take this analysis with a grain of salt): First, comparing Commercial Business Customer Retention with Non-profit Donor Retention is producing a false equivalency. However, I think the article ties the two together rather nicely. Commercial Businesses retain customers because those customers want some good that the business provides (be it a product or service or whatever). The customer directly receives this good, and thus the manifestation of their transaction. Donors, on the other hand, receive nothing directly as a result of their transaction. This, I imagine serves to highlight the importance of thanking donors and publicly acknowledging the gravity of their contributions. This, and the fulfillment of the goals driving the donation, are the good provided to donors. I would think that a core competency of a fundraiser would then become, understanding the goals of the donor, what they desire in return for their generosity, and then delivering above and beyond that. Not only does the donor need to be compensated through whatever means desired, be it a nicely written thank-you note or a parade down Main Street in their honor, but the donation itself has to be fulfilling the promise. This means that point #2 is all the more correct. To say fundraising is everyone's job doesn't need to mean that everyone is out there gathering donations, but it does need to mean that every person within the organization is working to put those donations to use in a way that aligns with both the organizations goals and those of the donors. It also seems that the general decline in the field over the past five years or so may have as much to do with the general sense of dread regarding global economic collapse as with any inherent issue within the industry of fundraising. Uncertainty generally tightens ones grip on their finances. While I imagine most donors are in a position that was for the most part untouched by the issues of the past few years (and in many cases, their situations perhaps improved), the psyche of contemporary giving has nonetheless shifted towards pragmatic conservatism until the ripples have waned. This likely illustrates the importance of experienced, qualified people in the position. I would be curious if the ability to assuage misplaced fears was a leading requirement for such a job. I suspect it should be. I also believe that as the economy is indeed tangibly improving, these numbers may begin to trend positively. Improving the quality of work in the field may quicken the trend, but not doing so likely won't thwart it entirely.
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11 年These are some good points. Question - doesn't almost every industry in the US have the problem of half of the employees wanting to quit? Employee engagement across the board is suffering terribly. I agree that the "good of the world is truly at stake" when it comes to supporting mission-driven organizations, but it's the for-profit businesses that have the most room to change and make significant improvements in that direction.
CSG Consulting/ Migraine Media Group
11 年Christopher Gallas OMG! I have been preaching this for so long and even recently in a three hour interview for a Major Gifts position with my current organization of course they did not even want to try and comprehend this and hear it. This is so on the money! I am not a psychic but this article totally confirms what I really have been speaking on. Incredible article. I cannot tell you how many times I have shared my thoughts regarding this to others in top tier management.