“Hi, thanks for following. Please support us”, read the direct message recently from a new twitter friend.
I dutifully clicked on the link, which transported me to the online fundraising portal Justgive, where I was presented with a picture of a sick infant, a hoped for amount to be raised ($500,000) and a donate button. Nothing more. No mission statement, vision statement, no list of projects. No paragraph on what the org does, where they reside, where they operate. Nothing to stimulate my interest or inspire my passion. Nothing but a Just Drop Your Money In The Box On The Sidewalk appeal.
What have charities been driven to? Who told them this type of Fundraising was a good idea?? Someone needs to be held responsible for the demise of the charitable solicitation.
We hear much about the indecency and greed of the American corporation. It is characterized as a company’s lack of soul, its depersonalization of its customer, its demoralized expectations of its sales staff in pushing its products on the consumer. The evil empire of corporate greed, where money is more important than the moral fiber of its relationship with its market.
I think our nonprofit industry needs to check itself here.
When asking for my money is the first thing an organization does when meeting me, we’ve lost our center. And that organization has lost its ONLY chance to win me as a supporter. I’ll never look at them again as more than a beggar on the street. Their programs, should I ever learn what they are, will be tainted with the belief that, “hey they just want my money anyway.” I’ll never pass their work on, ask a friend to help or volunteer to advance their mission. Because as far as I am concerned their mission is to get my money.
Please, stop the madness. The internet is an amazing and fantastic tool. When used as an extension of the cultivation and solicitation and stewardship we practice everyday, the relationship building that is essential to our sustainability, it can be incredible. However, as with all powerful tools when used incorrectly or recklessly, when wielded with disregard for others, when seen as nothing more than a means to an end, it can kill our efforts with just one click.