The 10 Commandments for Optimizing Fundraising Success, Part 1

Here are commandments 1-3

1. It's not about you
Gaffny called this the "most boring, depressing … and most important" commandment.

"There is not one person here who owns a donor base because the donor base doesn't belong to you … it belongs to the donor," he added.

In reality, you have little control over the fundraising dialogue. The only thing the fundraiser sending the appeal has control over is what she sends, when she sends it and through which channel she sends it. Meanwhile, the donor who receives the message controls whether to open it, when to open it, whether to read it, whether to respond to it, when to respond, how much to give and which channel to use.