Reframe the game: Embracing new perspectives in fundraising

By Ronnie Richard

My older son tried out for his middle school basketball team this week. He found out on Wednesday that he didn’t make the cut, but I applaud him anyway.?

Not in the “everyone’s a winner” sense—believe me, this is a competitive household.?

No, I applaud him for trying. For putting himself out there. For not being afraid to fail.??

You see, I didn’t make my middle school basketball team. Or the high school team. The truth is, I didn’t even try out.?

Why? Because I was afraid to fail.??

It wasn’t until I got older that I realized something we’ve all heard a million times by now—that failure is an opportunity to grow … to learn … to improve.??

It took some time for me to reframe it that way in my head, but it has helped me in many areas, including my career.?

In fact, a year ago, I took a chance on writing this monthly LinkedIn newsletter. Thankfully, you and thousands of others have seen value here and made it a success, but it easily could have failed.?

And it’s this spirit of reframing how you think that I want you, dear reader, to take into this newsletter.???

Here’s what we have in store for you today:?

• Reframing key areas for audience-first fundraising?

• Reframing your budget to prioritize these 3 audiences?

• Reframing your relationship with your agency?

• Reframing the story of homelessness for missions?

• Reframing the myth of donor fatigue?

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Embracing audience-first fundraising requires a strategic shift?

Lots of us in the nonprofit space know audience-first fundraising is the future, but too often we’re stuck in our old channel-first ways. So how do we change this??

Amanda Wasson , our Executive VP of Client Partnership, has some thoughts on three key areas that need reframing:?

• Budgeting: Prioritize audience needs?

• Creative: Craft cohesive experiences?

• Reporting: Measure overall donor health?

In this blog post, she goes into more detail around each area and how fully embracing an audience-first mindset will help you thrive.?

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Do you have a plan to reach these critical audiences??

If you’re reframing your budgeting toward audiences, you’ll want to prioritize which ones are worth investing heavily in. Eddy Camas , our Vice President, Strategy, offers some thoughts about this in his latest blog post.??

He sees three key audiences where nonprofit organizations can make a significant impact in 2025:??

• Mid-level giving?

• Monthly giving??

• Lapsed donor recapture?

Eddy explains why each one should be a priority, and he offers insights into the right strategies that should be tailored to each.??

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Working together: How to build a successful agency partnership?

In many ways, nonprofit agencies like RKD Group operate as a vendor. They offer defined services for a cost, helping fill specific needs in nonprofit fundraising.??

But the organizations that have the most success think of agencies differently. They reframe the relationship and consider them to be a partner. The nonprofit’s success is the agency’s success, and vice versa.??

In the video below, I sat down for a chat about agency partnership with Maria Shanley , Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida’s Director of Marketing and Data Management, and RKD’s own Stacy Sovereign , Associate Vice President of Client Partnership.??

After six years of cultivating their relationship, they have struck collaboration gold. We talked about relational skills and distilled their secret sauce into four ingredients for you to use to prioritize your agency partner.??

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How the mission message is changing in fundraising?

I also sat down for a thoughtful conversation with Billy Vaudry , RKD’s Lead Group Creative Director, to discuss the evolving landscape of rescue mission fundraising.??

Billy has been working with missions since 1990, and he points out some significant changes that he’s seen over the years. The most recent change involves the perception of homelessness across the U.S. and how there seems to be less compassion from the general public toward those dealing with homelessness.???

With that in mind, Billy shares how he and his creative team have been developing new strategies to encourage donors to support missions and the amazing work they do in transforming lives.??

Watch the video below to learn more.???

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It’s quite simple: When you ask donors more, they give more?

There’s a myth that floats around the nonprofit space like a whisper from the movie Field of Dreams: “If you ask it, they won’t come.”?

Far too often, organizations are worried about pestering their donors when in fact they should be asking more. There is clearly a line of too much—just look at all the political texts you got for the recent elections—but the data shows that people give more when they are solicited.?

RKD Group has been partnering with GivingTuesday to produce the Field Guide, a companion piece to their GivingPulse Report. In the latest Field Guide, we focus on strategies for the year-end giving season, and “make the ask” is one of the biggest reminders based on the data.?

The key is making the ask relevant to the donor. A new report from Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy studied data during the pandemic and found that people give when they know there is a pressing need.??

And that brings us full circle back to reframing and back to audience-first fundraising. How are you thinking about your message and your offer? How are you tailoring that to your different audiences in a way that’s relevant to them???

Food for thought.?

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Thanks for taking the time to read this month’s issue. As always, I wish you all the best in your fundraising endeavors.