In my first real fundraising job, I always hit my goals.

Season tickets? Nailed it.
Sponsorships? Check.
Annual gala? On target.

And although it sounds really impressive, the truth is the goals were too low.

After a few years of this, I asked my boss to raise the bar. I wanted to see what I was really capable of.

It’s my third week sending this newsletter.

To you, it’s no big deal. You can read it, delete it, and move on with your day.

But for me, it’s a very big deal.

Who are the most overlooked donors in your database? Unless the answer is "all of them,” I can almost guarantee it’s your mid-level givers.

Most nonprofit CEOs I talk to are hanging on. There's never enough time, never enough staff, and never enough budget. It makes sense that mid-level donors are the most overlooked because they aren’t the big-spenders and they aren’t the easy-to-automate low-tier donors, either.

Nearly 20 years ago, I started my career in college athletics. My job was to be the on-court entertainer during timeouts and half-times at NCAA basketball games. I was constantly developing fun games for fans to play, and I took it so seriously. Hearing the crowd laughing and cheering meant everything to me!

Then one day, a new donor to the athletics department approached me mid-game, with her hands cupping her ears, and yelled in my direction, “Your voice is piercing my ears! It’s terrible!”

I was stunned. Did everyone feel this way? Or was this woman just old and crotchety with no appreciation for good entertainment?