10 Trusted Canons for Practicing Philanthropy Preeminently

If you are familiar with fundraising, you know fundraising is no easy gig.  For many charities, the overriding challenge is that cash is king.  Taking the long view is hard for many charities because they do not have the resources to invest in building what is necessary to fulfill their mission.

But the truth is fundraising is a sacred trust.  Taking the long view in fundraising is an essential element to successful philanthropy.  Much more goes into doing great social good than just making the ask, whether you are giving, getting, or managing philanthropy.

We have learned over these many years of striving to practice philanthropy preeminently that impactful generosity, what sometimes more loosely is termed fundraising, is an art.  Responsible fundraising is imperative.  It is not simply a transaction on the way to meeting your fundraising quota for the quarter.  Transparent fundraising takes disciplined work.  It is not a one-and-done process and cash on hand is not the only predictor of success.

It should go without saying that no two charities are alike.  Each charity is unique.  Each charity has its own character.  Each charity has its own culture.  Each charity has its own challenges.  Each charity is its own animal.  Each charity has its own heart and soul.  What works for one charity may not work for another. That’s why preeminent philanthropy has many tools beyond just cash raised to deploy depending upon a particular charity’s needs on any given day or any given hour. Options are good.

Preeminent fundraising – preeminent philanthropy – preeminent generosity - is all about building and maintaining relationships between big-hearted donors, deserving charities, and treasured advisors anchored by unyielding trust among all.  It is a joint effort that comes from richly earned experience and determined focus.  It’s a matter of building trust and mutual respect and sharing a common vision.

Here, for your consideration, are ten canons, or general rules and principles, for practicing philanthropy preeminently that we would offer based on our own personal experience and observations from working with many unique charities, donors, and their trusted advisors:

Trusted Canon #1 – Be donor-focused.  If you take care of your donor’s needs first and always, then the donor’s generosity will help take care of the organization blessed to benefit from their gift, from their investment, from their confidence in you and your cause.  Nothing is more important in generosity than meeting the needs of the donor and hopefully the donor’s family.  Happy engaged donors make for successful charities.  Mission gets accomplished when all parties are in sync with one another.  Excellence comes from properly structured attention to the relationships at hand.  Donors’ interests come first, always.

Trusted Canon #2 – Be preeminent.  If you are going to give, get, or manage philanthropy then be the best at what you do.  If you give to cancer research, why not be the best at what you explore in your labs?  If you give to faith-based missions, why not be the best at reaching those remote locations in the field where need is often the greatest?  If you give to education, why not be the best at reaching the greatest number of students in your classrooms possible? If you build that workforce housing, why not be the best at making those living quarters imminently affordable and pleasurable? If you give to the arts, why not be the best at connecting one’s head and heart through the works performed in your galleries or concert halls?

Trusted Canon #3 – Be prudent.  Be discerning about cost versus benefit when managing your charity or charitable investment.  Costs can outpace capacity for a period.  That is to be expected on occasion.  Be clear with your Board and leadership when setting realistic expectations that are intended to be transformational.  Take costs and capacity into consideration. In this day-and-age, there really is no excuse for a charitable initiative to be too costly to achieve.  Major advances in social media, donor giving platforms, and the like make it much more likely that charities can raise more while spending a lot less on overhead than in years past.  Provide your professional and support staff with a fair and competitive wage.  Make certain that they know what the expectations are for raising funds each year based on their pay scale and be certain that their workplace is safe and inspiring. Break down the bureaucratic barriers to fundraising everywhere you can.  With that said, it is acceptable today for the cost-to-raise-a-dollar ratio to be around 20 cents spent for every dollar raised.  You can do better.  Preeminent means that your cost-to-raise-a-dollar can be ten cents or less.  Be challenged.  Make it happen!

Trusted Canon #4 – Be transparent.  Make certain your financial reporting and operating systems are cutting-edge and then share that information periodically with your donors and their trusted advisors.  Do not hide shortfalls or challenges when they arise.  Propose solutions and make them work.  Overcome any obstacles you might find in your path. Publish your annual reports, 990s, and distribute at least quarterly newsletters highlighting your labor.  Use your philanthropic marketing tools to tell your story in compelling ways.  Make social media your most prominent outlet.  Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and TikTok provide extremely cost-effective ways to communicate need and accomplishment. 

Trusted Canon #5 – Be strategically collaborative.  Would you rather have 50 percent of a large donation raised for a project working together with a complementary charity or champion, or 100 percent of a much smaller donation that did not necessarily inspire the donor?  Are there talented business leaders, attorneys, financial advisors, community activists, scholars, educators, first responders, or others out there that can help you achieve your objectives more quickly and efficiently?  Believe us, there is indeed great power in numbers. Work together with others as often as you can.  Join forces.  Leverage your expenses so that more of the donor dollar is left over in the end for the cause or causes you hold dear.  Philanthropic-public-private partnerships are highly rewarding ventures.  The ultimate in collaborative fundraising.  Use them as often as you can or any lesser form that works for you.

Trusted Canon #6 – Be percipient.  Anticipate the future. Know what comes next.  What steps should you take to advance your mission?  Who needs to be involved?  What will be the major and minor challenges as progress unfolds for your objective?  Being percipient is about being perceptive.  Having a good understanding of things to come.  Everyone involved in each raise or give needs to have a strong handle on what generosity might mean for your project.  Try to avoid unintended consequences as much as possible.  No one is perfect or flawless but if you take this trusted rule to heart, you just might find the path forward is open and obtainable.  Know thy project, the people, and its parameters.

Trusted Canon #7 - Be measurable.  Have benchmarks to compare yourself to.  Historical data that you can analyze.  Know progress when you can measure progress, empirically.   Use key performance indicators (KPIs) as often as possible.  If you know someone expert at enterprise excellence, Baldrige Quality Standards, Lean Six Sigma principles – use them. Deploy them and their ability to generate efficiencies of scale everywhere you can.  Your costs-to-raise-a-dollar we explored earlier will go down and your net impact on the charitable cause or causes you embrace will no doubt go up.  Performance is measurable.  Measure it regularly.

Trusted Canon #8 – Be diligent.  Do not be afraid to do your homework.  Get that business plan – yes, that formal business plan – in order asap.  Revise, improve, and adapt to it as time goes by.    Diligence will help you achieve your goal more readily; ensure consistent quality; build a much greater level of trust among all parties committed to your project; help you avoid silly mistakes; and improve productivity.  In other words, diligence will make you an even more professional operation.  That will inspire donor confidence.

Trusted Canon #9 – Be patient.  Raising money, generating generosity, takes time and it takes patience.  There is no magical timeline to raising a specific dollar, no matter what the literature tells you.  A small dollar sum - or large.  It does not matter in our opinion. If preeminent fundraising is all about the relationship between a donor, their advisors, and a charity, then patience will be required to successfully meet one’s targeted fundraising goal.  Board members and charity executives will have the hardest time being patient when it comes to preeminent philanthropy because their focus is and must be on ensuring that milestones are met by the professional staff and volunteers they guide and manage.  The immediate and not so much so the necessary.  Nonetheless, patience in preeminent philanthropy is a must.  Triggering turnover on your fundraising staff because a prospective donor is coming along more slowly than the budget called for means that your charity might lose that gift opportunity altogether when it was almost to the goal line.  If patience is waning, then bring others into the pursuit so that objective understanding of when or if a gift will be realized can better be known.

Trusted Canon #10 – Be in it for the good.  Successful generosity always generates good.  Endeavor always and consistently to do good with your money, whether a donation given, a gift received, or philanthropy managed, and our people and communities will arguably benefit.  It’s why we are all in this business.  It’s why it is so good that charities are indeed unique.  Our business of providing generosity is impactful.  It is rewarding in so many ways beyond just monetary value.  It connects our hearts and our heads in ways that are priceless. Priceless!

Seems like common sense.  Right?

We hope you will agree, generosity is an art.  It is not an easy gig.  It is not a one-and-done process.  Taking the long view must be prized.

May the use of these ten trusted canons in practicing philanthropy preeminently work for you as well.  Charitable missions will benefit greatly if, and when, they do.  

Spread the word.  Be keepers of the canons!

About the authors:  Ben and Nan Everidge have been passionate about fundraising missions since the early days of their respective careers.  They are co-managing directors of their consulting practice, Cannon & Caius. This article is adapted from their forthcoming (2024) book Generosity:  Giving, Getting, and Managing Philanthropy Preeminently.