One of the main reasons I wrote The Little Book of Gold was because I see too many small non-profits copying the largest institutions (hospitals, museums, large churches, schools, and universities) on all the wrong things. Yes you should emulate them on a professional, sustainable approach to fundraising. But some things work for them that are much less likely to work for you.

The big one here: major fundraising events like auctions. These make more sense for a prep school or a hospital than they do to a cash-strapped, labor-strapped small non-profit.

The other one: donor walls.

Beware donor walls.

Yes, a capital campaign for a new building should always recognize the donors who helped to build it. If a hospital builds a new wing for tens of millions of dollars, a beautiful donor wall that costs them $50,000 is a drop in the bucket (and good stewardship of the donors).

You, on the other hand, probably haven’t run a multi-million dollar capital campaign. If you’re taking money out of your regular annual fundraising for a donor wall, you might be spending a lot more money than you need to.

“But!” You say, “Every year we recognize our biggest donors on a plaque inside the lobby. If we didn’t do it, we’d upset our donors who like to see their name there.”

If you really feel like you can’t ditch the wall, here’s some helpful tips.

• Consider separate pieces for each name. It is almost inevitable that you will misspell a name, or list someone in the wrong place. If you spent a thousand dollars on a plaque that has everyone’s name on it, one error will cost you another thousand to fix the plaque. But if you had a frame that contained a field of small plaques, an error will only cost you a small fraction of the cost. In addition, if you change the wall annually, you won’t have to reprint your biggest donor’s names every year and your annual costs will go down.
• Consider going digital. A flat-screen TV: $195. A USB drive with a rotating powerpoint presentation: $8. Fixing mistakes on a computer at zero cost: priceless. I joke, but it’s a relatively small one-time cost and you can change your donor recognition in an instant to recognize a new donor or fix an error.
• Don’t give away the farm for annual fundraising. If you’re a small theater and want to recognize donors by putting their names on the armrests of seats, you should only do this for one-time fundraising costs, usually as part of a capital campaign. The reason is that donors are really drawn to these options, and if you give away your seats one year, you’re going to have a hard time the next year when you’re trying to raise money without giving away little plaques on armrests. Or you’re going to shoot yourself in the foot when you need to raise big money, but can’t use your seats because they’re already filled.

Donor walls can be effective tools for stewarding donors. But be practical; give yourself outs in case you make errors and don’t give too much away.