Mailbag: How do I write my case statement?

Q: I work for a pretty small organization.  We've been able to get started on government and foundation grants, and after two years working hard to build an Annual Fund, my board thinks we're ready to add a major giving program.  I have never done this before.  I'm willing to try it, and I'm reading everything I can on how to do major gift fundraising, but I'm scared and I'm stuck.  I know I need a case statement, but I don't know how to write one, and I have no idea what to say.  Do you have a template you recommend?

A: I don't recommend a lot of templates.  They can be very very useful, don't get me wrong, but templates too often give people implicit permission to literally think inside the box.  You're so focused on properly filling in the blanks in your form (sorry - template) that you're no longer thinking about what you actually need: what makes your story unique, what makes the way you tell your story unique, and what makes your audience unique.

So I'm going to do two things: first, congratulate you on asking for help, and two, encourage you to keep doing it.

Oh, and since I'm not totally heartless, I'm going to explain that, and give you a worksheet for how to create a case statement.  It's not a template - it's a series of steps you can take (promise me that you'll take them as guidelines not gospel) that should yield a pretty decent version of a case statement.  But unlike a template, everyone will execute each of the steps differently - meaning that you'll wind up with a document that couldn't be written by an organization with a similar mission and thesaurus, you'll wind up with a case statement that couldn't be written by anyone but you.

1. ASKING FOR HELP is one of the most useful things you can do when you're looking at a major gift project.  But don't ask me.  Ask your supporters.  Ask why they give.  Ask what they want to know when making a gift.  Ask if there's something you could do that would make them want to give even more.  Ask what they tell their friends when they talk about being a proud supporter of your organization.
2. When you've collected a bunch of statements and thoughts from your supporters, add your own.  Why are you proud to be associated with your organization?  What's so special that makes you spend so many hours and so much effort on your work?  What makes your organization stand out from all others?
3. Grab a copy of your mission and vision statements.  If you don't have enough material specifically addressing this from the previous two steps, think of a couple of ways to express why your mission is so important and why your approach is the best way to do achieve your mission.  
4. Collect all these materials, read them over, chew on them.  This step is actually important.  You can't achieve brilliance or innovation without a little bit of space to breathe.  Could be you take a long lunch, go home early and work in your garden while thinking about what you're going to write, could be you just put everything aside for the morning and watch your programs happening.  Remind yourself in very real terms what you're doing here.  Figure out what you need.
5. Pick out a few different messages that you think make your case well.  They should compliment each other, they should speak to different audiences.  Figure out the FORMAT that works best to express those.  There's no particular or proper form for a case statement, it's a term that encompasses a variety of written documents that quickly make a case for support.
6. After you've got your first draft that is your best effort at weaving all your favorite tidbits together, check for:
• Logic (whatever you've said, does it make sense?  Does A -> B?  Did you accidentally skip relevant pieces such that you've said A -> Z, but some of your readers don't know how you got there?)
• Inclusion of narrative (you need some good stories for people who like to read - well crafted, compelling language that is free from jargon and pretension)
• Inclusion of data (you need some straightforward numbers for people who just want bottomline numbers/are data driven)
• Inclusion of graphics (you need something for folks who are visual learners - could be data in infographics, could be photos speaking a thousand words, could be your emotional appeal in one perfect photo or cartoon)
• Inclusion of some emotional appeal (you need something for folks who give from the gut)
• Soul (does this feel authentic to who you are as an organization?)
• Brevity (This needs to be short.  As short as possible given all you need to communicate.  People just won't read endlessly.  Be honest and brutal in your assessment of how short you can make this document vs. how short you should make this document.  When in doubt, ask someone else, someone less invested.)
7. Now that you've checked for the details, check for the big picture.  Does this document say Who you are, What you need, Why you need it, and When you need it?  (I put the two checks in this order because if you do step #6 thoroughly, you're most likely ready for step #7...but might need to carve away some of the excess that's hiding those Big Picture answers.)
8. Go through a few drafts until you feel ready to get feedback.  Ask for it from a variety of stakeholders.  Use this as another reason to get in touch and get advice from some of your existing supporters, big and small.
9. Go through more drafts if you need to.
10. When you go to press, love the document, but do your best to not be burdened by how much work went into it.  There are stories and statements that didn't make it in there.  When you go public, you will hear more about what it's missing than about how much is amazingly right about it.  It's just another tool.
11. I didn't mention anything about campaigns or other specific projects/programs.  Case statements are often written for specific funding needs.  All of the above applies whether you're working on communicating why people should support your organization or why people should support Funding Need X.  But if you're looking for a particular funding need, make sure not to dilute that message with too much about general support or organizational details.

Mailbag: Tired of pretending

Q: I've been cultivating this one prospect for a few months, and I can't figure out where we are.   I thought I was clear about my interest in getting her to support my organization, but I think she thinks we're friends.  We're about the same age, and I really do like spending time with her...but I can't afford to spend all this time on a prospect who's not going to pan out, you know?  I feel like I'm wasting company time on a personal relationship.  But I'm afraid that she'll hate me if I tell her that the only reason I've been having lunch with her is that I want her money.

A: In amicitia nihil fictum est, nihil simulatum, et quidquid est, in est verum et voluntarium.  In friendship, nothing is fiction, nothing is fake, and whatever it is, is true and voluntary. (Cicero)

I ran across that quote a week ago and knew there was a reason I wrote it down.  These are good words to live by for cultivating friendships, and good words to live by for cultivating donors.  Sometimes those sets overlap, sometimes they don't - but until you let go of the fiction you're allowing to seep into this relationship, you can't have a relationship that is true and voluntary.

Do you want a real friendship with this person?  Hold onto that answer a minute.

One of the biggest perks of frontline fundraising is getting to meet some truly amazing people.  Sometimes you're going to hit it off, you'll have a good rapport and a lot in common, and you will wind up with a personal friendship (whether or not you wind up with a major donor).  But, and I can't stress this enough, you're not there to be someone's friend.  That's not the job.

If you're working with a prospect, you need to be true.  That's a rather poetic way of phrasing it, so it's open to some interpretation - honest? direct? open? gentle? authentically concerned about their feelings?     unafraid to expose your genuine self?  Any and all of those are fairly good advice.  And they are essential for maintaining the voluntary nature of your relationship.

A donor has to support you because they want to.  There can be complicated reasons that folks "want" to support you - they might want to support the mission; they might want to support your organization's leadership; they might want to impress someone on your board; they might want to feel good about honoring a deceased loved one; they might want to get their name on something; they might want to do something nice for you, their friend.  You can think of more reasons - but they boil down to wanting to give, based on true and voluntary reasons.

If you feel you compelled to hide your own feelings, you're undermining this whole system.

Now, I'm not talking about neglecting to discuss politics with a donor you know is on the other side of the political spectrum.  Unless you're a political fundraiser, that's irrelevant.  Treat donor relationships like your distant relatives at Thanksgiving dinner - you know you don't see eye to eye on a lot of things, but you go out of your way to not pick fights and to talk about things you know you can both discuss pleasantly.  You're representing your organization.

What I'm talking about is remembering that YOU are representing your organization.

Now let's get down to brass tacks.  You feel like you're spinning your wheels with a prospect because you don't know if she's going to ever become a donor.  I'm *not* going to criticize or analyze your methods that lead you to say that you thought you'd been clear that you're looking to turn her into a donor.  I don't need to.  Donor communication is very simple - if they understand what you're saying, you've communicated.  If they don't, it doesn't matter how reasonable your attempt was, you need to try again, differently.

Tell your prospect that you always like seeing her, but that you're concerned about doing so on company time without a clear agenda, and then set one.  Tell your prospect that you enjoy spending time with her, but want to make sure that she's getting everything she needs to make a decision about supporting your organization or project X this fiscal year.  Tell your prospect that you are very concerned about meeting your fundraising goals for the year, and why that's so important to all the work your organization does, and that you'd love to meet her if you can help her come to a decision, but otherwise, you'll have to catch up after the fiscal year ends.  Keep trying to communicate until you succeed.  Make sure you don't try avoidance as a tactic, either as a way to not take too many meetings or to avoid awkwardness after you've communicated that you don't have time for endless personal lunches on company time.

You'll notice that I didn't suggest that you offer to move your socializing to after-hours.

IF you want to actually be friends with this person, you can put that into your true and voluntary communications.  Go for it.  Your prospect can say no (in which case you respect that utterly); it's their choice once you ask.  But we all go through times in our lives where we don't have enough time to spend with friends we've known for years, and we've all met folks that we like well enough when we see them for work but don't want to spend extensive time with.  If you don't actually want this prospect as a personal friend, don't make the offer.

Socializing with prospects and donors is a fine line.  You must always walk a tightrope between professionalism and authenticity.  You are not there to make personal relationships, you are there to connect people to your organization...but someone who suppresses all personality or manufactures one just for the occasion is going to do a poor job at building those institutional ties.  You are always obligated to build relationships on behalf of your organization.  Sometimes you will incidentally form personal friendships in the process.

Allow me to offer one final thought: when you conduct yourself as I'm suggesting, you'll be left with true and voluntary relationships.  But that also means that you cannot be all things to all people, and that truthfully, some people want something else.  Your honesty and clarity will help them see that they don't feel compelled to support your organization.  Get used to letting them go and being grateful for the separation.  If you trick them into thinking you/your organization are something you're not, you might get a gift, but ultimately you'll wind up unhappy.  If you twist your mission or programs or organizational focus to please a donor, you'll regret it.  If you bring in a donor who will not actually value what you're doing, they will regret it...which means you will too.  Unhappy donors are far far worse than amicably parted prospects.

Accounting vs. Plain English - the problem with "unearned" revenue

I went to business school.  I learned a lot of very useful things there, but when I give people the 30 second version of why it was so important to me and my career, it all boils down to this: college taught me how to speak French and Latin and a little Old English...but in business school, I learned how to speak Accountant and Consultant and a little Finance.  And a good part of what I do professionally is translating from one of these business languages into plain english.

Many folks get frustrated that such translation is necessary.  Can't we all just use a common language for all this?  But that's like getting frustrated that they speak French in France.  And French has some beautiful words and phrases that you just can't say perfectly in any other language.  Same thing with the business languages.  If you're reading this blog, the odds are that you're not one of the folks who grump around with tea-bags stapled to nasty placards, complaining that everyone should have to speak English here in 'murica.  (If you are, you may continue to complain about not feeling you should have to learn how to speak accounting...you're still utterly WRONG, but you're internally consistent, so go ahead with your wrongheaded old self.  I can't help you in a single blog post.)

So what brings all this up?  I was just doing a tutorial with a client on her balance sheet.  We got into a very emotional discussion when it came to one particular line: unearned income.

Unearned income.  That's accounting speak for "contributions."  In fact, many folks have decided to go with new terminology - they call it "contributed income," which lets you bypass this whole conflict, but that's not nearly as educational...so indulge me for a moment.

When you work yourself to the point of exhaustion trying to bring in enough contributions to support your organization, it might seem like a very low blow to call all of that "unearned" income.

From an accounting perspective, of course, it's pretty cut and dried, without any moral implication of "earned" vs. "unearned."  Earned revenue is anything you sell - from services to tuition to theater tickets to goods created by women working to feed their families in a developing nation.  Unearned revenue is just given to you.  People get tax credits.  It's not about how much work you have to do to get that gift.

But I get why it seems like a brutal designation.  Unearned has so many negative connotations - that we are unworthy of these dollars, that we have not worked hard to get them, that we have perhaps swindled and bamboozled our way into them through overly trusting patrons.  I can tell you - most donors who bother to look at financial statements for your organization won't bat an eye if you name that category of income as "unearned."  If they care to examine them, these donors speak business well enough that it won't occur to them that "unearned" is not such a nice thing to say in plain english.  Corporations have unearned income, people have unearned income...things like investment income, annuities, various benefits...prepayments for goods/services yet to be delivered...

It's that last category that makes me think that instead of playing linguistic games and just renaming the category "contributed income," truly embracing an understanding of unearned income might be a great idea for an organization and its leaders.

When a company receives money for goods or services that have yet to be delivered, that gets put on their books as unearned income.  That's a great way to see the donations that people make to your organization.  They're willing to support you, to pay you in advance for all the things you will do to meet your mission...but it's a prepayment.  They expect something in return.

When we think about "gifts," we think about something that is freely given.  The transaction here is that you make a solicitation, and if that person says yes, you get a gift.  That's it.

With an advance payment, the transaction shifts: I make a solicitation, my donor agrees and gives me money, and I now own an obligation to deliver what I've promised, whether that's specific programming or the continued existence of my organization to press on towards my mission.

That's a much better way of understanding your donations.  A healthier understanding, a more elegant understanding, a more robust understanding.  When you internalize that understanding so that it permeates all of your communications with donors, it will make you more attractive to donors.   And when your board appreciates this new understanding, they'll understand development that much better (stewardship isn't optional; development and good governance are locked together; etc.).

Just another lesson in cross-cultural linguistics.  More or less, with tongue in cheek.  This has been a friendly reminder from your development shrink that anything that causes an emotional knee-jerk reaction is worth examining closely.

Mailbag: Forget the Overhead Myth

Q: I know that donors are looking at my administrative costs, and that I'm supposed to keep my overhead low if I want to get good evaluations from watchdog groups...but what does that actually mean?  I can't cut anything else without cutting staff, so...are other people just way better at creative accounting?

A: Yes, there are some donors who are looking at your administrative expenses, popping it over your whole budget and rejecting folks whose ratio doesn't match their ideals.  YOU DON'T NEED THEM. Also, they're really really few and far between.  Asking you about your overhead is a good thing - it keeps us honest, it keeps us mindful of a need to answer to our supporters, to be efficient.  But that's the start of a conversation for most donors, as it should be.  That's not a bad thing at all.

There is, certainly, a big drive in the sector, for accountability and efficiency.  And overhead seems like a good way to measure that.  So let's be kind and say that this is a case of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing - there are donors who've read this far in their official donor orientation handbook and ran out of time, and are now just winging it.  You run into them in the field, and you hear about them in the nonprofit press...and they make a good scary story to tell around the nonprofit campfire, because like all good scary stories, there's enough truth there to make the story seem very very real.

First, head here, to one of my favorite web comics, Savage Chicken.  Have a chuckle, then come right back.

Now, let's talk.

1) How's your overhead?  Are you doing things that make sense?  When you spend money, do you do so intentionally, with reasons you can articulate and stand behind?  How does your board feel about your expenses (overhead and beyond)?

That's right - I'm not asking you about your overhead in comparison to anything - not in ratio with your overall budget, not in comparison to an average for your type of organization, and certainly not by asking how close you can get to zero.  I'm asking why you spend what you do, and why you think that's the right move for your organization and the people you serve.

If you can tell that story, most donors will listen.  ASKING QUESTIONS IS NOT A BAD THING.  Donors should be asking questions, and this is a question that you can expect, so swing for the fences.  You're going to be asked to talk about why you need money, and how much you can do with it!  That's a great place to go in a conversation, and these questions means that the donor is driving you there.  Again - this is fantastic.  A gift, really.

2) Now that I've asked you to tell me a story about what you spend and why, without feeling persecuted by expectations of your overhead, please remember to tell that story to anyone who will listen.  But, of course, it would be stupid not to be prepared to discuss how that number, whatever it is, compares to other numbers in the mind of your prospective donor.

• What's typical overhead for an organization in your field?  How do you compare?  Explain any big differences...could be that you're operating in Nebraska and most are in New York City.  Could be that you're running these two pilot programs that require extra oversight and evaluation.  Could be that you have a commitment to covering full health benefits for all your employees.  
• What's your overhead to program ratio? The question at hand, however you want to break it down: what's the "running the organization" vs. "performing our mission" set of numbers?  And when you think of it like that, you may start to see that a simple ratio from your budget or balance sheet doesn't really describe that accurately.  Say, for example, that you put all your staff in the administrative line...but there are only two of you, and in addition to running the organization, you and your second in command also provide direct services to clients.  So...are you "overhead" or are you "program?"  You don't even need to decide how to categorize yourself - you just need to be able to explain why the numbers themselves need context.
• What other numbers (straight from your financial statements or in comparison to any benchmarks) will draw questions?  Be prepared for questions you can reasonably expect.
• There's no end to the list - but the same rules apply: As long as you can explain your reasons for the way you stack up in various comparisons, being clear and open about your institutional choices is GREAT.  It may help you and some donors see, early on, that you're just not a good fit for each other.  You want - NEED - to let them go.  They'll be dissatisfied with their donations, and you'll drive yourself crazy trying to please them.  

3) Your comment about creative accounting scares the bejesus out of me.  Creative accounting shouldn't be a euphemism, it should be a term of praise for the folks who have figured out how to use the very clear and straightforward rules of GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Practice) to sing nuanced and complex melodies.  Don't ever attempt any kind of deception through your financial statements!  (First of all, it's one of the stupidest things you can do; it's bad form and bad faith, and you can't make up for that by pretending it's justified to help you achieve your mission.  You have to live with your realities, and they are reflected in your numbers.  Second, you'll get caught.  You will.  And that could, perhaps should, destroy your organization, in a shuttering/closing to business/not-existing-anymore sort of way. Don't do it.)

• You should be discussing options with your accountant so that your numbers are "singing" your song.  
• You should be running your basic financial statements by trusted business savvy advisors, for the express purpose of having them tell you what they see in them, what questions they have after reviewing them, etc. (Then you prepare to answer those questions straightforward and with confidence; see above.)
• You should prepare development versions of all your financial statements that attractively lay out all the context and assumptions that folks should find relevant in looking over those numbers.
• IF YOU ARE HOPING TO HIDE anything that you find embarrassing in those numbers, the problem isn't the numbers.  The problem is the embarrassing reality.  So you either need to find a way to confess a one time lapse (you screwed up cash flow your first year on the job and needed to make a withdrawal from savings to make payroll for a couple of months) or change the way you do business so that your practices reflect what you want to tell people you do.  See how that works?

Mailbag: Recipe for Alienating Your Donors

Q: I just got a "thank you" note from my kid's school that is such a ridiculous form letter that I don't think I'll ever donate to them again.

Dear <Mr. and Mrs. Names Redacted to protect the annoyed>: Thank you so much for supporting <Could be any school, really> with your generous gift to the Annual Giving Campaign. Your tax-deductible gift of $20 will have a tremendous impact on <let's call her Jane> and her classmates.

In fact, when my 10 year old saw it, she asked "Is that sarcastic?  It's kind of mean."

I get that there's an absurdity to fundraising etiquette, but...are they being sarcastic?  It's a school of less than 100 families.  I know I can't give anything close to what some families give, but it would be really nice to feel like someone actually cared that I gave what I could.  How do I get over this and not let it affect my relationship with the staff at the school and the fellow parent who solicited me?

A: When I taught SAT Prep, one of my favorite little reminders to my students was to remember that writing SAT questions is someone's job.  They're not brilliant, they're not out to get you - on the other end of that test question is a pencil pusher who's an average Joe, clocking in and out and just looking to pay the bills.  The lesson there was to demystify that which held emotional power over you.

Same thing applies here.  They really didn't mean anything by it.  It's a form letter, and a fairly benign one at that, truth be told.  They're not out to get you, and I'm pretty sure that even the petty folks (and there are some) who might be tempted to shame or embarrass folks who didn't meet their standards for How Much To Give would be more flamboyant about their attempt to make you feel bad.  On the other end of that letter is someone who is just doing their job, probably underpaid and overworked and just trying to get out a few hundred thank you notes at once.

On the other hand - this is a great lesson for those of you WRITING form letter thank you notes.   Take note of these tips, and don't put yourself in this situation:

1. Segment your list.  You should really be sending different language to donors of small gifts (whatever that is for you) and donors of large gifts.  You might also segment by lifetime giving history, so that someone who's given millions gets a letter than acknowledges how much they've done for the organization over time, even if this gift is just $50.  This story shows how much it can matter.  
2. Don't be afraid of telling it like it is in your thank you notes - sincerity goes a long way.  Once you've segmented, for your small donors, try something like "...it may not seem like much, but your gift of $x will be put to good use, and knowing that 90% of our parents give what they can is extremely gratifying for our entire community." If you think anyone would describe your purple and flowery prose as "absurdist fundraising etiquette,"try simplifying - using plain language to say that you're grateful, and what you're grateful for is the best way to communicate authentic gratitude.  Use hyperbole, and your sincerity may get lost (to the point of suspected sarcasm, in really bad cases).
3. Personalize the note, when you can...and in a school setting, you really should be able to.  A handwritten postscript would have made all the difference here.  It would have instantly made the recipient feel like part of a community again instead of a faceless stranger being pumped for money by people who see her every day.

note: I cheated a lot in putting together this post - the real story (and of course there is one) happened on facebook.  It wasn't so much a question, sent to my email mailbag - a friend posted her complaint to everyone on her friend list (and she's charming and amazing, so there are a lot of us)...the second lesson, as important as the one above, is that it only takes one person to have a terrible experience to tarnish your reputation with a thousand people immediately. EVERY donor should be treated with grace and sincere gratitude.  This is one anecdote, but I have several others...how you treat your $25 donors reflects on your organization as much as how you treat your (may you have some) $25,000 donors.

Mailbag: I think my biggest donor hates me

A very edited version of a question received from a friend/reader:

Q: It's my first year in a new position, and we're working on launching a capital campaign.  We really really need a huge new gift from my organization's biggest donor...but I think she hates me.  It's messing with my head, paralyzing me with fear, and making it hard to think about anything else.  I don't think the campaign will succeed without her, and what if it's my fault she turns us down?

A: OK, so the stakes seem high here, but I don't know if you're making an honest assessment, or whether your fear is leading you to obsess about a worst case scenario.

I'm going to answer two parts of your question separately - the biggest problem you're having is paralyzing fear.  That's something you need to fix immediately, because every day you spend motionless makes it that much harder to get started again.

If we were in a coaching relationship, we'd be working on distancing yourself from all your emotions so that you can step back a couple of times a week and think about your campaign strategy objectively...go back to the basics and break down that campaign into a series of bite-sized goals, then channel all of that anxiety into chipping away at your list of tiny steps forward.

If the thing that's tying you in knots is a complicated situation with one donor (even if it's your biggest donor), you need to be able to sit down at your desk (or take a walk if that's a better way to clear your head) and think about all the pieces of the puzzle.  You're going to need a base of dedicated and involved smaller donors.  What's your plan for reaching the masses?  Work on that while your gears are grinding elsewhere.  You'll need to scour your existing donors for folks who can be wooed into stretching to new heights of giving, and start the wooing process.  You'll need to train and mentor and encourage your board members to get involved.  Maybe you need some printed collateral.  Maybe you're planning a launch event.  The specifics, you'll have to come up with.  But there is inevitably a long list of things you need to do, and there's immense psychological benefit to being able to account for real progress at the end of the day (or week, or month).  Turn your paralyzing fear into nagging fear.  Nagging fears you can live with, or better yet, pin them down and dispel them.

So now let's look at the fear of being hated by a donor.  First of all, why do you think this person hates you?  Unless there was an actual incident - did you accidentally say something offensive? ("Pregnancy suits you!" "...I'm not pregnant.") Did you do something bad? (Accidentally shatter her grandmother's heirloom and priceless vase by knocking it off the coffee table when you had tea at her house?)  If there's no real cause for anger or hate, the odds are that you haven't made that deep of an impression.  Actual hate takes energy to manifest and maintain.  At worst, you're probably just an annoyance.

There are so very many reasons that two people might not click, and that's without figuring in the fact that you're talking about people who met in a rather artificial circumstance - a paid professional whose job it is to connect the donor to the institution and then ultimately ask them for money. It's perfectly fine to not form a personal, deep connection to every donor.  Perhaps this metaphor will help: a great donor relationship casts you in the role of midwife - someone who has a connection with their charge and is honored to be trusted to help the donor bring a new gift into the world.  Most donor relationships have you playing the role of translator - speaking to the donor on behalf of the organization, bringing donor concerns and thoughts back to the organization, and hoping that you can speak both languages well enough to communicate effectively.  A poor donor relationship makes you a translator with an annoying voice or distracting accent.  This should be a comforting perspective: you might not be the translator the donor would imagine or choose, but ultimately, it's not about you.  Really.

Except when it is.  Sometimes, people really are that crazy, and it's not impossible that your worst fears have manifested in this donor.  She hates you AND is willing to hold it against the organization.  Very very unlikely, but not impossible.

You are never the only member on the fundraising team.  So discuss your fears frankly with the rest of your team - an Executive Director, a Director of Development, Board members...Coach one of them through taking over the relationship, or hear what they have to say about making amends and trying to start fresh.  Ask for help.

You might even consider asking the donor.  Tell her you fear that the fact that you two have not developed a warm relationship is getting in the way of her longstanding relationship with your amazing organization, and you know how big a role she has played in its success to date (or the impact her involvement has had, how much she's been appreciated...whatever you think matters most to her).  Ask if you've offended her.  Ask how you can get past your rocky start.  Try to find some small common ground (like, say, a passion for the work that your organization is doing) and start fresh.

It may wind up that you need to hand over the relationship to someone else.  Happens all the time, so it's important to not feel like that move means failure.  Just don't do it from a place of unexamined fear...do it because it makes good sense.

Quick Tips: Email Strategy

Email is a great tool.  But like everything, you have to know how to use it well if you want it to be effective.  One of its huge advantages, the very very low cost per email (for most of us, it's just the staff time spent putting together the list above the sunk costs of having an email management system) makes us a little less cautious about how we structure and plan our mass emails.

Here's a great recent post from techcafeteria (aka Peter Campbell) with some cautionary thoughts.  Basically, he reminds us that we're not the only folks tracking the number of people who open and read our emails - that statistic has bearing on how the major email services categorize your messages...you're much more likely to wind up in spam filters if you have consistently low rates of opens and clickthroughs.

http://techcafeteria.com/blog/2013/05/31/everything-that-you-know-about-spam-is-wrong/

It's something to think about.  Certainly, you shouldn't let fear for your sender score (terminology Mr. Campbell describes - it's what you think it is) cripple you...if the rest of the world is anything like me, whether or not I open an email from the organizations I support has less to do with them and more to do with what else is in my inbox and what else is going on in my day.  Aside from trying to anticipate what you can (eg - don't send an email you want me to read the day after a long weekend.  My inbox is guaranteed to be full and I'm going to be having a hard time getting my head back into work mode.  Always.) you have to accept that you can't fully control these things, and email is ideally suited to mass outreach.  But being aware of the implications of the techniques you are weighing is always a good thing.

Three super quick takeaways:

1. Think carefully about your mailing lists.  Just because you don't have to write a check every time you hit "send" doesn't mean there's no cost to sending emails, and it's not as simple as "so they won't read it if they're not interested."
2. Be sure your emails have value.  Best way to get people to open your emails consistently is to develop a track record of sending emails that are worth reading.  (Of course, that's a complicated thing to figure out...what has value to both your organization and your supporters/followers?  If it were as easy as all that to figure out how to implement that kind of platitude, I wouldn't have paying gigs...but at least this kind of advice can prevent you from being reckless!)
3. Stewardship is a great use of email - if all of your emails boil down to a direct solicitation, people will stop opening them unless they want to make a gift immediately.  Also, you should be sending your solicitations to lots of people, not just your guaranteed supporters, so if that's all you send, you'll wind up ignoring all of the good advice in Mr. Campbell's article.  But when you use email to thank and engage your supporters, you'll be rewarded with higher open rates and all their benefits.  (Blah, blah, you still have to do it right, and points 1 and 2 still apply, but if you're looking for a great way to engage in a productive conversation about email strategy with your board, boss, staff/team, etc., start here.  How can you better use email for stewardship?)