"Tinker Bell says she thinks she could get well again if children believed in fairies! Do you believe in fairies? Say quick that you believe! If you believe, clap your hands!"

I was five years old when I first saw Peter Pan.  I didn't know the term "Fourth wall," at the time, so I couldn't describe what the actor was doing.  But I knew it was a magical moment in the play, and it brought a lump to my throat.  I clapped as loudly as I could.

The work of fund raising is the same kind of magic.  We are also communicating across a fourth wall that separates us from our audience. How permeable is that divide?  Here is a Fourth Wall Pourousness Quiz:

• Do you send notes to individual donors when an event occurs at your organization that is particularly aligned with each donor's interests?
• Can you lace your conversations with each donor with references to your previous conversations?
• Do you know why each of your donors supports your organization?  (Don't assume if you haven't asked individually.)
• Do you know which of your donors are likely to say yes to a request for "special project" support and which are likely to want to stay in the annual giving cycle?
• Do you communicate with your donors in such a way that they are invited to see themselves as partners?  (Hint: when you use the organizational "we," make sure the donor is included in that communal first person.)
• Can you describe the organization - staff, board, donors - in terms of the common values that you all share?

If you can answer "yes" to most of these questions, then the fourth wall between organization and donors is permeable.  And that is more impressive than being able to fly with the help of fairy dust.