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| Re: Departing, disgruntled Board member wants all "her" donors and contacts back.
Posted by Julie Rodda   on 11/20/2009, 5:02 pm, in reply to "Departing, disgruntled Board member wants all "her" donors and contacts back."
VIP Poster
Laura,
As Development Director, this is probably not your battle so much as that of this person's peers--your executive board members. Also,
Public trust is a key issue with donors...why this person has freedom to contact donors about her grievances is puzzling at first blush.
You do not comment as to what major event (if any) caused this abrupt change of heart for the past director, and in this public venue it would most likely be inappropriate anyway. Not knowing specific details...unless this person has an actionable issue they would be on tremendously shaky ground.
Even if there were an actionable offense (which would involve outside intervention on some level) I believe this person would find they have no 'legal' leg to stand on if they were to press this donor 'ownership issue', and it only would reflect badly on them in the end to speak, print and/or distribute defaming remarks regarding the organization to persons they considered 'their donor'. In my thought process, such action would not invite the potential donor in question to trust the judgment and actions of that individual, causing problems for recruiting future participation in any nonprofit venture engaged by their leadership efforts.
Donors never 'belong' to a person--a truly self-serving position to take. Donors may be 'managed' by individuals, but the donations are to the nonprofit. Donors may have a connection to an individual, but true donor development always connects the donor to the good work of the organization, so that donations do not revolve around a specific leader, they revolve around the organization, its mission, vision and values.
A board president or any other leader on the development team provides a tremendous disservice to their organization if donors are stewarded in any other form than noted above.
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Julie Rodda
http://www.roddaconsulting.com/Solutions for Non Profit Organizations
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