Legacy walk programs are trying to figure out the new world order. Their team captains, the foundation for previous success, no longer act the same way. They don’t want to show up in person, and they have trouble building teams. When they have a team, we can’t tell if team captains communicate with them. They don’t respond to email. How, we wonder, can we get them back?

Societal change drives nonprofit departments to try to evolve rapidly to keep up. Sometimes, different departments operating independently end up unexpectedly in the same place. A prime example is the convergence of livestream gaming and traditional peer-to-peer events. This "horseshoe dynamic" requires a restructuring of the revenue department. Not doing so means losing constituents and income.

Philanthropy is facing a significant challenge: donor engagement is dwindling. The critical question we must ask ourselves is: “Why?” 

Could we be the issue? 

The nonprofit sector not only struggles to advance social good but even to maintain it. This reality is well documented: In 2023, charitable giving, when adjusted for inflation, fell by 2.1%. But our response has increasingly focused on major donors and institutional giving, a strategy comparable to burning more fossil fuels to combat global warming.

So why are we doing this?

Let’s say you’re a chief development officer. I ask you to describe your ideal donor. What would you say?

You’d probably use words like “big-hearted,” “empathetic,” “socially responsible,” and “generous,” among others.

But what does psychology tell us about seeking these people out? Personality alone is not enough to predict donors’ likelihood to give. Yet, setting outreach and appeal strategies without a better grasp of supporters’ potential to donate is inefficient and ineffective. So, how can we better understand supporters’ willingness and ability to donate, beyond just defining their personalities?

Events are what people do. Communities are who people are. In other words, community is part of their identity.

Community drives identity-building, trust, and satisfaction—three fundamental elements people crave. By focusing on these elements, nonprofits can create deeper, more meaningful connections with their supporters.

Let’s explore how identity-building, trust, and satisfaction contribute to a thriving nonprofit community and how focusing on these can make a significant impact.

Ian Joyce showed up at Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation after a robust and distinguished career in corporate marketing and communications. He brought that mindset to his new work in social good. But he found there was a missing piece—a pipeline.  

Three years ago, we were in Russia. How the world has changed.  

We traveled to Russia for ten days to teach social fundraising to Moscow-based nonprofits and promote the release of the Russian translation of our book, Dollar Dash. We left with new friends and the expectation that we would return someday soon. Many of our Russian friends have now fled the country. They live in Lisbon, Istanbul, Tbilisi, and elsewhere, unsure of their futures. 

Our Turnkey team was with 100-ish nonprofit professionals this past week at the NonProfit POWER Conference in Philadelphia. I gave a presentation on how one’s identity is strengthened by being part of a community — how engaging with like-minded community members is validating and rewarding, the reason people seek out communities to be a part of.

To celebrate the upcoming release of Turnkey’s Katrina VanHuss & Otis Fulton, Ph.D.’s new book Social Fundraising: How to Mine the New Peer-to-Peer Landscape, we are giving you a sneak preview of one of our favorite topics; Recruiting (and Keeping) Volunteer Leaders & Fundraisers.