WWW.CITYGATENETWORK.ORG MARCH/APRIL 2019 43 wants, needs, and desires. Not all will want a visit every month. Many will not take the time to visit your facility and take a tour. But they still love you and they want to be appreciated and cared for. That takes time and commitment. And it takes a perspective that is quite biblical. Love your donor as yourself (forgive my theological license). Next apply good, sound, tried-and- tested best practices to your fundraising program and you will get results. Com- municate regularly with your supporters, but don’t over-mail to them. Invest in finding new donors. Thank donors. Keep your eye on the key performance indica- tors that spell success, such as active donors, renewal rates, average gift, attri- tion, and gifts per donor. Use the phone to connect with your supporters. Thank donors! Be multi-channel whenever and wherever it makes sense. Don’t use gim- micks; send real mail. Report back so that donors know their gift made a difference. Don’t try and shortcut the process. Remember, major gift work takes time and patience. And don’t forget—thank your donors! To CEOs, executive directors, and development leaders—stop fostering an expectation that there is “easy money” out there. Stop chasing silver bullets and stop asking your staff to do the same. Support your development staff and encourage best practices. Take the long-haul view. It will work. We need to get away from the Wall Street way of thinking that what matters is the next quarter rather than the next three to five years. Learn from Warren Buffet—he invests for the next decade or two, not the next fiscal year. Have integrity. Be deliberate. Bathe everything in prayer and see what amazing things our mighty God will do! To fundraising agencies—stop selling quick fixes. Agencies feel compelled to always have something new, like they just discovered the magic formula and now they’ll let the nonprofit in on the action. There is no magic formula other than hard work and sticking to a good plan. There is no magic list that gets you all the good donors, and none of the “one and done” kind. The answer, at least for the time being, is not in digital fundraising. While important, it will not solve the funding problem, and can even make it worse. Good grunt-work fundraising trumps fad fundraising all the time. “Find, Win, Keep, and Lift” is still the road map to success. We all have limited resources to invest in raising funds for our missions and nonprofits. We have to leverage what we have, use it wisely, and allocate it prudently. If we do so, the results will come. Perhaps not over- night, but over time we will build a solid foundation for success and growth, and it will be God-honoring and donor- centric. We will, in fact, be treating our donors as we want to be treated. The cure for the “silver bullet syndrome” is good, old-fashioned fundraising. Or as Ken Burnett calls it in his classic book on development, “relationship fundraising.” Keep your hand to the plow, don’t look back, and you will see the fruit of your fundraising labor. Plus you won’t be exhausted from running after that silver bullet!  Christopher has more than 30 years of hands­on experience in fundraising and development, having served with such organizations as Salvation Army, Bethany Christian Services, and Los Angeles Mission. He speaks nationally on fundraising, leadership, and management, and has authored numerous articles. He currently serves as director of client development for blue dawg, a full­service direct marketing agency. You can reach Chris at cdoyle@gobluedawg.com.