See the Forest for the Trees.

Hello blog. It's been a while since we last hung out, but you know how it is. What was that thing Lennon said? Something about life getting in the way?

This morning I plopped myself of the couch for a rare infusion of mindless TV and for some reason the cable box froze - nod to Cablevision. A little help here? - on the ministry of Dr. Creflo Dollar. When I say it froze, I mean that I could not turn the channel, could not turn off the box, could not access the menu, leaving me with the option of walking away or being saved. Choosing the former, I made some tea and talked to Hobbes for a few minutes.

Perhaps it was the conversation, but I eventually returned to the couch and gave the good Rev. Dr. Dollar a chance. As an unapologetic agnostic with atheistic tendencies, the program's evangelical message was falling on two very deaf ears. As a fundraising professional and marketer VERY interested in the tipping point of compassion, belief, and motivation to act, I was impressed with the Cref's (can I call him that?) method and connection to his audience.

I began to wonder, as random hodgepodge so often compels me to do, if we fundraising professionals don't sometimes (more likely often) miss the forest for the trees.

I perform daily evaluations of the cost-effectiveness of A/B tests on segments of donor and prospecting files. My team and I hem and haw about decreasing the cost of acquiring each new donor with subtle adjustments to control packages. We have endless conversations about which color will most be effective for the free mailing labels and debate which teaser copy will get the best response. Et cetera ad infinitum.

I get why we do all this. We live in very expensive fundraising channels that require a detailed and accurate accounting of ROI and my job is to maximize profit for use in the field. But at the end of the day, we rarely pull back, close the daily campaign reports, log out of the CRM programs, and ask ourselves the following:

• Is this message, this channel, or this whole approach going to blow people's minds away or just continue the status quo?
  
  
• Would I really give because this appeal landed on my door or some punk canvasser asked if I had a minute for starving kids using the script we wrote?
  
  
• Are we pioneering new ways of reaching that elusive tipping point where audiences - like those in Dr. Dollar's ministry - put down their bibles, note pads and pens, lift hands to the holy somebody and cry out, "Amen"?

This week, shortened in observance of a communicator whose skill to lift spirits pulled millions from the margins of society closer to the center, I will undoubtedly focus more on the trees whilst negotiating elements of vendor contracts, pressuring our mail house to get packages into stream earlier, and so many other important elements of large campaign execution.

But this week, I will also find time to step back and think of new ways to reach thousands of new audiences with a message that stops them in their tracks, gets them to see the forest, and give of themselves and their treasure to save children around the world. Amen.