The leaky boat

Almost every boat leaks a little bit somewhere. Usually you pump or bail, and sail on. But when you're leaking faster than you can bail, you've got trouble.

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I just finished a meeting with a board member at a service organization here in Texas, who feels they have something of a leak in their boat:

Their donors are aging.

Of course everyone's donors are aging. But he's concerned that this hole is leaking faster than they've been keeping up.

He figures, if they don't address this, they have maybe 5 years before things start to get tight. It would probably look something like this:

Donations start to trail off.
Staff begin to feel the pressure.
Morale decreases.
Staffing and program cuts must be made.
The remaining donors begin to wonder if their contribution is well placed.

It's a downward spiral.

The time to start patching this leak has already begun.

That means appealing to a younger crowd of donors. And that works out to changes in three important areas:

1. Messaging

Younger donors typically have a different set of motivations and personal values than this organization’s current older audience. So while they may be very well in tune with the thoughts and feelings of their current donor base, a targeted effort is required to understand the language, images, and emotional cues that will appeal to a younger crowd.

2. Mechanisms

Paper checks, snail-mail letters, and everything else that goes through the postal system probably works great for their over-65 audience. But it's all but useless for the younger audience they need to target.

3. Media

Television and radio PSAs have been a large part of their outreach effort. This channel is, frankly, fading fast. New channels must be explored, and there is no single medium or channel that dominates public information. They'll need to experiment, monitor, and shape their plan as they go.

Here's the thing:

It seems to me this organization has a chance to make the changes they'll need to make. They've got board members who are forward-thinking and goal-oriented.

Of course, an aging donor base may not be the leak in your boat. And though you surely have a few leaks, they may not be severe enough to warrant immediate action.

But when they are, focused effort is surely required.

Maybe you can bail faster. Maybe you can repair the leak.

But when that's your situation, you don't want to use all your effort, er … rearranging deck chairs.

All the best,
A.