‘Golden Age of Fundraising’ ends; long live TG!

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Pastor Foley

Thanks to Joanne Fritz for highlighting the Chronicle of Philanthropy article announcing the end of ‘The Golden Age of Philanthropy’ in the United States.

The closing credits for the Golden Age rolled at last week’s annual Council for Advancement and Support of Education conference. Blame it all on living on the recessionary downside of home prices and stock market valuations, say conference speakers.

Fortunately, fundraising gurus were quick with advice:

Move one level down the giving pyramid and start cultivating relationships with middle donors.

Sure, it’ll take more resources to raise fewer gifts, and sure, development offices already have fewer development officers due to economic cutbacks (even attendance at the conference was down 15% from last year), but conference attendees were urged to take consolation in the remarks of former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, who exhorted participants:

I cannot imagine a more difficult but more important job right now [than fundraising for colleges]. Your mission is more important than ever.

Go team?

I could not agree more that the ‘golden age’ of traditional/transactional giving (ttf) is over. What stuns me is that the prescription from ttf’s best thinkers is: gather more workers and keep pounding away at that pyramid, friends!

That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and foremen in charge of the people: ‘You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota.’ (Ex. 5:6-8)

TG, anyone?

About Pastor Foley

The Reverend Dr. Eric Foley is CEO and Co-Founder, with his wife Dr. Hyun Sook Foley, of Voice of the Martyrs Korea, supporting the work of persecuted Christians in North Korea and around the world and spreading their discipleship practices worldwide. He is the former International Ambassador for the International Christian Association, the global fellowship of Voice of the Martyrs sister ministries. Pastor Foley is a much sought after speaker, analyst, and project consultant on the North Korean underground church, North Korean defectors, and underground church discipleship. He and Dr. Foley oversee a far-flung staff across Asia that is working to help North Koreans and Christians everywhere grow to fullness in Christ. He earned the Doctor of Management at Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management in Cleveland, Ohio.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

3 Responses to ‘Golden Age of Fundraising’ ends; long live TG!

  1. Matt Bates says:
    July 17, 2009 at 4:47 pm

    Word of caution: some may be tempted to read this and think, “Great, ttf can only offer that we should work harder at a system that’s failing; when we switch over to TG, our cash-flow problems will be gone without having to work so hard.”
    But, if anything, TG takes more thought, more time, more work than ttf. It’s just that the quality of the work is markedly different, as are the outcomes.

    Reply
    • EFoley says:
      July 23, 2009 at 5:01 am

      Yeah, I agree. That’s what I’m doing the series on measurements this week. Until TG doesn’t have to measure itself using ttf standards, even we ourselves are going to keep falling in that measurement trap.

      Reply

  2. Pingback: Is it a good time or a bad time to start a nonprofit organization or become a missionary? « Transformational Giving

Leave a comment