Dear friends,

I hope you feel steady and ready as we turn into our busiest time of year. Tomorrow (November 20) COO Kerri Kerr and I will host an Avalon Town Hall for clients, to kick off year-end and support our clients as they navigate post-election fundraising. We hope to see you there!

Native American Heritage Month

November is Native American Heritage Month, and I’m enjoying the excellent digital collection at the cooperative site of The Library of Congress, National Archives and Records Administration, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Gallery of Art, National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, and United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

On Veteran’s Day, our clients at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) hosted an excellent slate of programming, Honoring Native Veterans. And, on November 29 NMAI will co-host a Native American Heritage Day event with the U.S. Mint and the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum, honoring Zitkala-Ša, who was a writer, composer, educator, activist, and member of the Yankton Dakota Sioux on South Dakota’s Yankton Indian Reservation.

New Benchmark: Fundraising Effectiveness Project

Ahead of Giving Tuesday, the Fundraising Effectiveness Project released 2024 Q2 results. The data covers January – June 2024 and further confirms a trend that has been on the industry radar since 2022: Despite an increase in revenue through 2022 and so far in 2024, the total number of donors continues to decline. This means that direct response fundraising is more important than ever, especially as we head into year-end and prepare for a second Trump presidency.

The smallest donors, who make up a significant portion of the donor base, are continuing to lead the decline in donor engagement, indicating the need to tailor fundraising strategies to small and medium-sized donors, often seen as the backbone of a resilient donor base.

Graphic by Fundraising Effectiveness Project.

Trump Bump 2.0

The New York Times is reporting on “Trump Bump 2.0,” including questions about how 2024 will differ from 2016. Of course, savvy fundraisers already know that disappointing elections can prompt a frenzy of giving. Studying past presidential contests, Blackbaud reported a +58% increase in gifts to nonprofits with “losing” political ideologies and a -3% decrease for nonprofits associated with victors. They make a helpful distinction that many of these donors are “feeling reactionary,” not charitable—so it is critical to “transform fury into philanthropy.”

Avalon is tracking this year’s data closely and is ready to capture and retain a potential wave of new donors. As always, our approach is to be 100% fluent in both sector trends and the ins and outs of each client’s data. With the right strategies for donor engagement and cultivation, any Trump bump will not only boost today’s cash flow, but also set the chess board for tomorrow’s growth.

What Is Authenticity?

Marketing VP Barb Perell shared a Washington Post article that asks, what is authenticity? It’s a leadership buzzword and a hot research topic, but it can be hard to pin down. Even without a simple definition, experts do agree on authenticity’s core components: self-determination, moral behavior, and a dynamic quality that is always evolving. In addition, authenticity supports mental health and “has been positively associated with self-control, better decision-making, problem-focused coping, and satisfaction with relationships.” All good reasons to lean in!

“Authenticity is this process of genuinely deciding what to think, what to value, and who to be.”
– Jeffrey Hanson

My Turkey Soulmate

One of my favorite Avalon holiday traditions is sponsoring Farm Sanctuary’s Adopt a Turkey Project, which “has celebrated turkeys as individuals, not Thanksgiving meals, since 1986.” While you’re on their site, be sure to meet the “spokesturkeys” and discover your flock bestie. My turkey soulmate is the confident, brave, and reliable Ferris!

Thanksgiving Schedule

Avalon will be closed for Thanksgiving on Wednesday, November 27 – Friday, November 29. In addition, the Avalon Dispatch will take Thanksgiving week off. Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday, and I can’t wait to spend the weekend with family and friends. I hope you also enjoy the break, rest up for year-end, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!