Kill Your Darlings

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Kill your darlings

Anyone who’s been to journalism school knows the phrase “kill your darlings.” It means editing out the words and phrases that you’ve fallen in love with that drag down the clarity and power of your story.

In fundraising, we would do well with an annual review with staff and key volunteers titled “kill your tactics.” Or at least some of them.

In my work both with fundraising professionals and as one myself, I find great propensity to fall in love with tactics. It’s the stuff we actually get to do, to take pride in accomplishment. There’s just one problem with this love affair – when tactics become so ingrained that they become synonymous with strategy.

A tactic can be this: task your board chair to solicit all fellow board members in September of each year. The strategy is this: ensure 100 percent “stretch-level” board participation in the Annual Fund each fall to get the effort off to a strong start and show that leadership is bought in.

But what if your board chair’s idea of soliciting fellow board members is to hand out pledge forms at the beginning of the meeting and tell everyone to hand them back at the with the inspiring message of: “Just put something down so we can count you as a donor.”

Hmmm. Might be time to revisit your tactic here. Or are we so committed to this being the chair’s job, that we have totally lost sight that this particular tactic (which is nowhere engraved in stone) is actually sabotaging our greater strategy? And the list goes on:

  • The event or gala that has outlived its useful lifespan.
  • The “buy a brick” effort that costs more to implement than the revenue it brings in.
  • The Annual Fund drive that has no clear purpose or direction.
  • An “endowment building” effort with no case of how a stronger endowment will make your nonprofit more effective at serving the community.

Before you launch into your next strategic planning process, examine your tactics. Broaden your vision beyond “how can we make the gala better” (i.e. improving a tactic) to “is the gala the best way to bring people together to form community and raise awareness and funds for our mission?” (i.e. focusing on strategy).

Killing your darlings isn’t easy, which is why so many remain on life support year after year. In just about every case of darling demolition I’ve encountered, however, the long term benefit invariably outweighs the short-term pain.