Systems

Hello to the Awakeners,

I’ve been feeling angsty the last few weeks. I’m sure you’ve felt the same way at some point. You know you’re heading in the right general direction, but there’s that nagging thought that the compass is off by a few degrees. If you don’t factor in the course correction now, then your cruise to Australia ends up taking you to Antarctica. Not that there’s anything wrong with Antarctica, per-se, but when you’re dressed for the outback and you find yourself surrounded by penguins, well… that’s unpleasant.

I think my specific strain of the angst virus comes from the idea that this is a site about “fundraising without making it all about the funds.” There’s two different ways to think about fundraising – as a system or as a set of principles. It’s handy when the system reflects your principles. But even then, there’s something a little tweaked about the deal. People and systems don’t go well together.

The nice thing about systems is that you don’t have to think about what you’re doing very much. The nut goes on the bolt which tights the wheel to the axle. Pull this lever over here, and the crane lifts that three ton steel beam over there. X number of exposures to an ad campaign will result in Y number of leads that turn into Z number of sales.

Do you see anything wrong here?

People just got turned into exposures, leads and sales. They become resources to be exploited. And that, my friends, is a very bad place to be. Yes, if you follow a ten step “Program for Fundraising” you might get humans to give you some money. But you’ll dehumanize them in the process.

Awakening Followers is written to help keep you from doing this very thing. Awakening Followers is about the principles of how to… well… awaken followers.

This is the course correction that I’m factoring in now. There is a place for systems, but the systems I’ll be talking about here relate to objects and activities, not people. How we interact with people is guided by principles, like “People get to make their own decisions as the Holy Spirit guides them” and “People get to see what makes me tick” and “People are my friends.”

Just to make sure I’m clear, what I’m writing about here is not a guaranteed, systematic approach to get people to give you a bunch of money. This is not meant to be easily measurable or systematized. If I talk about systems here, I will deal with things like how to take a photo or write a newsletter.

If this sounds like something you’d like to be a part of, that is crazy exciting for me! Join the crew! Let’s change how the world thinks about fundraising.

Until next week,

Josh