Introducing M.O.M.

Your job as a fundraiser is to know your mission inside and out. You have to know not only who your potential supporters are, but why they give and why they give to you. You have to be aware of the nuances of your specific mission and the people who support it. For example, one of the first and more fascinating glimpses I have gotten into the donor mind-set came years ago, when someone told me that if you're talking to potential donors about their pets, for Pete's sake don't refer to a pet as an "it." That donor's pet is a he or a she or, ideally, a Boscoe, Fluffy or Scooter. Loving a pet means acknowledging that he or she is just a little person with fur. And courting a potential donor to an animal-welfare cause means honoring that acknowledgment.