I was looking for some inspiration this morning as I sat down to write so I could have something profound to say.  Sometimes, when looking for inspiration, I start reading other blogs on fundraising, marketing and life in general.
I found one.  Fundraiser Ken Burnett has a great piece in Fundraising 101 called “Fundraiser, Are You Too Busy to Change the World?”
Burnett makes two interesting points:

1. All this technology and modernization in our world is not really making it easier for us.  In fact, it may be causing us more anxiety and stress than we bargained for.  This go-go world is making us less effective, less efficient and a lot less happy.
2. Perhaps there is an advantage for the fundraiser in the “progress paradox”, as he calls it, to help those of affluence.  He argues that affluent people in today’s society are the ones lining up at the psychiatrist’s door in record numbers because they have figured out that “having everything” has nothing to do with finding true meaning and fulfillment.

This is an opportunity for the fundraiser.  Burnett says:

“Could this be an opportunity for the likes of us, for fundraisers? I think so; it could be a great one. Given the colourful character of our causes and the urgent nature of the needs we meet, who could offer fulfilment and meaning in life for those without it, better than fundraisers? Perhaps in this new progress paradigm, nonprofits can expand their role. If fulfilment is moving up people’s hierarchies of basic needs, where better could they turn to find what’s lacking in their life, than the nonprofit sector? If significant sections of society face a problem that stems from their growing affluence, maybe we’re just the folk to relieve them of it. And if time too is in short supply then we can make everything very easy for them as well as appealing and interesting. If the meaning of life is becoming increasingly incomprehensible, cannot fundraisers and the causes they work for help many people find the answers they seek?”

What I love about this is that it reinforces what Richard and I have repeatedly written about in our blog.  That is:  If fundraisers (and their non-profits) would spend the same amount of time, energy and resources on their donors as they do on meeting needs, they would experience an incredible amount of abundance.
The problem is that most non-profits and their “watch-dogs” don’t see it that way.  We are more comfortable spending as little on our donors as possible and figuring out how to extract as much money as we can at the lowest amount of expense.
Ugh.  It makes me sick knowing how many non-profits adhere to this philosophy.
But, perhaps you can help champion a new philosophy within the organization you are working for.  What if you really saw your organization as the bridge between a donor’s greatest desires and passion to change the world and solving some of the world’s greatest needs?
How would you treat those donors differently?  What kind of impact could you make in the life of your donors, many of whom are seeking true meaning and fulfillment in their lives?
I often tell major gift fundraisers that they are “brokers of love.”  Well, perhaps I need to expand that to “brokers of meaning, fulfillment and love.”
Yes, that is what you are.  That is what our donors are seeking and there are needs out there ready to receive it.
Perhaps one day we can experience a future where people are not lining up at their psychiatrist’s door, but instead, are lining up at your door, begging for help.
Jeff