Stomach Trouble: How Much Should You Trust Your Gut?

Step 3: Dessert — Be careful who you listen to
OK, this one is hard — and the wrong choice can stick with you longer than that hot fudge sundae. But the fact is, your board chair, senior management team and CEO may or may not have a real clue about what your donors want and will respond to. Sometimes you have to play nice, but don't sacrifice your entire budget for a month or an activity on what your CEO thinks (unless he or she has a basis for that belief). Too often, we think donors are just like us, but we forget that they know much less and (sadly) think about our nonprofit less often than we do. We mustn't make assumptions and start at a level that is beyond their ken.