Prospecting For The Endgame: Week 6
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Prospecting for the Endgame: Week 6
Last week, we started digging into our major donor prospects. Okoye and Pepper Potts are two of the likeliest donors in the Marvel Universe, and as researchers, we’d want to prioritize them as prospects. Some prospects aren’t worth the time, and some prospects just won’t be a fit for your mission.
When we research prospects, we need to keep our goal at the top of our mind. As Tony Stark puts it in Iron Man, “There’s the mission, and nothing else.”
Thor
Thor Odison, God of Thunder, King of Asgard in Exile, (self-proclaimed) Strongest Avenger is known for his great deeds and an ego to match. Donors have many different motivations, and philanthropy works best when those motivations align with the mission and vision of our organization and our program. When a donor’s motivations are their own vanity, you need to move forward ethically.
Any charity should have a Gift Acceptance Policy in place to ensure any questions about incoming gifts are easily addressed. Organizations can take another step toward accountability and transparency by creating a Code of Ethics for their team.
Ethically, researchers need to be careful in how they obtain and use information. With legislation like GDPR in the EU and CASL in Canada, there are legal restrictions, too. In the Marvel Universe, Asgardians are from another planet, so I think that would present some challenges that wouldn’t be worth the trouble.
Thanos
The Mad Titan Thanos is a man on a mission. A prospect with universal notoriety and a clearly defined personal mission can make a researcher’s job much easier. When the prospect’s mission is genocide, a social good organization’s choice to avoid that kind of donor is easy, too.
We often think about donors saying “no” or not giving as we’d hoped. As organizations of integrity, we need to make sure that we don’t ask in the first place with some donors. Regardless of the size of a gift, even the appearance of impropriety can lead to scandal and loss of trust by the public.
Thanos could show up at your doors telling you about people “going to bed hungry. Scrounging for scraps. Your planet on the brink of collapse.” And how he could be “the one who stopped that.” However, you’d still need to refuse that ethically questionable gift.
Join us Next Week…
Like Thanos says “the end is near.” Endgame is right around the corner and so is the final edition of Prospecting for the Endgame. In the next and last edition, we’ll explore how to plan for sustainability and your organization’s future by cultivating younger donors early! In the meantime, sign up for the OBP: Marketing—Brand workshop which is full of resources to help with you solidify and communicate your mission and core values.
If you Missed an Exciting Episode…
Here are the links to every edition of Prospecting for the Endgame!
Prospecting for the Endgame: Week 7
https://community.blackbaud.com/blogs/76/5603
Prospecting for The Endgame: Week 6
https://community.blackbaud.com/blogs/76/5574
Prospecting for The Endgame: Week 5
https://community.blackbaud.com/blogs/76/5564
Prospecting for The Endgame: Week 4
https://community.blackbaud.com/blogs/76/5544
Prospecting for The Endgame: Week 3
https://community.blackbaud.com/blogs/76/5527
Prospecting for The Endgame: Week 2
https://community.blackbaud.com/blogs/76/5508
Prospecting for The Endgame: Week 1
https://community.blackbaud.com/blogs/76/5491
Last week, we started digging into our major donor prospects. Okoye and Pepper Potts are two of the likeliest donors in the Marvel Universe, and as researchers, we’d want to prioritize them as prospects. Some prospects aren’t worth the time, and some prospects just won’t be a fit for your mission.
When we research prospects, we need to keep our goal at the top of our mind. As Tony Stark puts it in Iron Man, “There’s the mission, and nothing else.”
Thor
Thor Odison, God of Thunder, King of Asgard in Exile, (self-proclaimed) Strongest Avenger is known for his great deeds and an ego to match. Donors have many different motivations, and philanthropy works best when those motivations align with the mission and vision of our organization and our program. When a donor’s motivations are their own vanity, you need to move forward ethically.
Any charity should have a Gift Acceptance Policy in place to ensure any questions about incoming gifts are easily addressed. Organizations can take another step toward accountability and transparency by creating a Code of Ethics for their team.
Ethically, researchers need to be careful in how they obtain and use information. With legislation like GDPR in the EU and CASL in Canada, there are legal restrictions, too. In the Marvel Universe, Asgardians are from another planet, so I think that would present some challenges that wouldn’t be worth the trouble.
Thanos
The Mad Titan Thanos is a man on a mission. A prospect with universal notoriety and a clearly defined personal mission can make a researcher’s job much easier. When the prospect’s mission is genocide, a social good organization’s choice to avoid that kind of donor is easy, too.
We often think about donors saying “no” or not giving as we’d hoped. As organizations of integrity, we need to make sure that we don’t ask in the first place with some donors. Regardless of the size of a gift, even the appearance of impropriety can lead to scandal and loss of trust by the public.
Thanos could show up at your doors telling you about people “going to bed hungry. Scrounging for scraps. Your planet on the brink of collapse.” And how he could be “the one who stopped that.” However, you’d still need to refuse that ethically questionable gift.
Join us Next Week…
Like Thanos says “the end is near.” Endgame is right around the corner and so is the final edition of Prospecting for the Endgame. In the next and last edition, we’ll explore how to plan for sustainability and your organization’s future by cultivating younger donors early! In the meantime, sign up for the OBP: Marketing—Brand workshop which is full of resources to help with you solidify and communicate your mission and core values.
If you Missed an Exciting Episode…
Here are the links to every edition of Prospecting for the Endgame!
Prospecting for the Endgame: Week 7
https://community.blackbaud.com/blogs/76/5603
Prospecting for The Endgame: Week 6
https://community.blackbaud.com/blogs/76/5574
Prospecting for The Endgame: Week 5
https://community.blackbaud.com/blogs/76/5564
Prospecting for The Endgame: Week 4
https://community.blackbaud.com/blogs/76/5544
Prospecting for The Endgame: Week 3
https://community.blackbaud.com/blogs/76/5527
Prospecting for The Endgame: Week 2
https://community.blackbaud.com/blogs/76/5508
Prospecting for The Endgame: Week 1
https://community.blackbaud.com/blogs/76/5491
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Organizational Best Practices Blog
04/17/2019 11:00am EDT
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