I May Have the Best Job in the World!

I have had the pleasure of working for and with nonprofits for almost two decades now! The things I enjoy the most are helping charities fulfill their mission, hearing of some unique need that a specific organization is trying to meet, seeing my fellow man jumping in to give whole-heartedly to meet needs, and seeing true passion on display for a cause!

I mentioned ‘true passion’ in my lost blog and it is very inspiring as I see and deal with it every day! I have a special opportunity to work with organizations that have very committed people to the cause of that organization! A great thing! They are passionate, committed, and very zealous to the cause! However, this passion often meets up cautiousness when it comes to investing in their own infrastructure. This is where a board of highly successful professional can often be of a great help.

Recently I posed this question to a very passionate and cautious executive director of a small non-profit who was hesitant about moving forward with our database product: If you invest in a tool that would double the lifetime value of your donor database would that be worth the investment? (Let’s explore that statement for a minute. Their current database of donors provides over $400,000 in annual funding. If their retention rate is 50% then the lifetime value of just those donors would be around $800,000. Obviously, new donors every year would add to the lifetime total, but for our example we will stick with existing donors. If Bloomerang allows the donor retention rate to move to 70% then the lifetime value added is more than another $800,000!)

If a nonprofit invests in such a game changing tool such as Bloomerang it allows them to retain more of their donors, plus ENGAGE those donors to much higher giving levels in many cases. Not a bad outcome!

This is where I personally find my career the most rewarding. You see, giving a demonstration of Bloomerang is fairly easy because it is such a joy to use, however helping cautious decision makers to realize what the investment in Bloomerang can mean to their organization and its mission requires a true professional sales consultant! I am not always able to do that at present. However, I am proud to say I am able to assist more times than not . . .

Then the very best reward for my chosen career happens shortly after the sales process is finished. I often receive a note or an email the next year saying what a difference my product has made in their fundraising efforts. Then I know just how lucky I am to have been part of that success and to have the best job in the world!