1. Make sure you talk about the merits of your product (what your organization does - you call it "program"). Are you adequately communicating the benefits ofx your product? If your donors are not supporting your cause it may be because you are not using the proper emotion and urgency to define what you do.

2. Make sure you have the right people doing the right things. Too many managers confuse loyalty to people with the care and courage it takes to match poorly performing employees with work that better matches their skill sets. Do you have the right people in the right jobs? Are you honest with your employees about their abilities and your job needs? Are you as a major-gifts officer doing something other than focusing on your caseload? Are you as an MGO manager allowing the MGO to be engaged in something other than the caseload? If so, there's trouble ahead.

3. Listen to donors - they know the way. Donors are affected by tough economic times and times of uncertainty, too. During these times, they become more and more discriminating about where they allocate their charitable dollars. And that's when you must listen even more carefully to them. They will tell you what motivates them about your work and what doesn't. Tough times are times for partnership with donors. I am still hearing, way too many times, from MGOs that all the donors on their caseloads are the same. Don't believe it!

4. Flood your circle of influence with vision and courage. Nothing steals your energy and passion like down times. Remind yourself and others around you why you are doing what you do. Take another look at the core purposes of your organization. Proclaim your vision courageously and boldly. This is about taking care of yourself and making sure you are properly grounded and encouraged.

5. Make (or renew) a serious commitment to asking. Revenue is down. The future looks bleak. You don't know how things will turn out. So you start to ask half as much, right? Wrong. Now is the time you should increase your asks and the energy surrounding them! You can't afford to add more weakness to an already weak economy.

6. Step up and innovate. Take risks. It's counterintuitive, but tough times require the polar opposite of your natural inclination to hunker down and defend. Your emotional side will tell you to be careful, avoid risk, be conservative. Instead, be proactive. Test new ideas; push the envelope and find new ways to relate to your donors. One MGO of a client of ours, having failed to gain entrance to her high-net-worth donor, engaged the donor's dog in the conversation! Yes, her dog. The MGO would write and email the dog, and the dog would write back. Hmmm, yeah, we know - it was the donor writing. But a really solid relationship developed, and the outcome was increased relationship and giving. Who would have thought?

7. Focus. Are you focused on the right donors on your caseload, the right strategies and the right tactics? Take a quick inventory. You may discover that you suffer from a lack of proper focus and that this lack of focus is contributing to weakened relationships and performance.

8. Be aware of shifts in donor attitudes and preferences. Like never before, donors want to express themselves and be involved. They want choice and control. They want to know they are respected and valued. They want to know you understand them and are trying to meet their needs. If you're not giving donors the opportunity to be heard, if you are not paying attention to meeting their needs, the most likely outcome will be high donor attrition.

SOURCE: Richard Perry