What do donors want?

The irony of it all. . .

There is a big posse out there that has been trying to convince us for years that individual donors are overwhelmingly interested in research-based measurements and proven outcomes.

But the research base for that assertion is really quite frail.

So today we have republished one of NPQ’s most-read articles of all time, “What Do Donors Want?” by Cynthia Gibson and Bill Dietel. This article sets forth the research on this topic, which is as nuanced as the collection of human beings that comprise the donor pool in this country.

Please, again, tweet this to your networks. Start a conversation about it locally. Let’s try not to ignore the facts. No one is saying we should not hold ourselves responsible for the outcomes we promise, but we can do that and still understand the many shades of human motivations for giving.