I’m not talking about turning down a donation – either of cash or items for the collection. I can handle those! I’m talking about the never-ending process of donor cultivation.
The Scenario: Sunday, Mother’s Day. I’m at church (Living in the same small community where I work and being a member of the church where a majority of our members go is a topic for another day!), when Mrs. X approaches me. “My daughters are in town for the day, and I’d love for them to be able to see the exhibit. Would you mind opening the gallery for us this afternoon?” Sigh.
The Background: Mrs. X loaned many of the items on display in the current exhibit. Mrs. X is financially “very comfortable”, and regularly makes monetary donations to the museum and other related groups and organizations in the community. Mrs. X has known me since I was 12, thinks my dad is the bees knees, knows my aunt and uncle, knew my grandparents…you get the idea.
So…that afternoon, I drag my (luckily pretty easy-going) daughter into the museum for about 90 minutes so that I can accommodate Mrs. X and her daughters, which, I’ll admit, made for a pretty fantastic Mother’s Day for them. For me, not so much.
So now I’m back to the question: In a field and community where this kind of request could easily consume my life (8 to 5? Monday to Friday? What’s that?), when and how do I say “no” to Mrs. X?
I know I’m not alone in this…any words of wisdom are more than welcome!
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It's so interesting to see Ruth's take on this issue as a leader of a community-based organization in a smaller community. We struggle with the same problem as a large organization that serves statewide. We often get the call asking "Can you can come this weekend, bring 10 collections items, and give a presentation? We have no money to reimburse mileage or cover expenses." When I began managing our Outreach and Field Services department, sense of obligation to provide services to these struggling compatriots across Ohio went to war with my desire to protect my staff from burnout and my programs from budget implosion. We chose to set some parameters upfront for when we say yes, no, or "yes, but it will cost you a nominal fee." It's still sometimes an uncomfortable process, but it helps to have a policy. For us, the parameters are:
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2- Key partners and sponsors get "yes" without paying as long as it's not abused.
3- An opportunity to build a partnership we've been pursuing or to highlight our programs to a large audience sometimes get "yes" without paying.
You can see these aren't terribly stringent regulations, but they help us to have some consistency.
I'd love to hear what have others done to address the pressure to provide revolving door service?
My, Ruth, do I know where you are coming from! I'd get calls like that, too, when I was a museum manager. My general strategy was to always keep my calendar and list of appointments up to date. If a call came in to open the museum where I worked for a special visit, I'd check my calendar first and if I was free, I would. But I always bought myself time by checking my calendar and I always made sure that "family time" or "chores time" was on that calendar. If I couldn't make the appointment, I always proposed another time. And if something didn't work out for this or that date, I always left the door open for another time.
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