The Nonprofit Sector’s Most Pressing Issues: The C-Level Exec’s Point of View, Part 2

Tandon suggested focusing more on donors: “Know your donor. What gets the donor to give? Learn as much as you can about your donors, and let all the fundraisers across all the programs know those things.”

He offered this advice as well:

• Be married to your numbers.
• Emphasize testing — learning, scaling up, testing up.
• Innovate. “Innovation is needed, continuous improvement and innovation,” he said.
• Be flexible. Tandon likes to say, “I’m married to my wife, not strategy.” Focus on your donors, not you, and adjust your strategy to them.
• “Take God seriously, not yourself,” he said. “A lot of issues slide away when you relax.”

McGregor said that each fundraiser at Greenpeace educates the rest on what he or she does and why to encourage more collaboration, and suggested others do the same. Here are more of his suggestions: