Fundraising journals do not make attractive doorstops. Some are big and clunky. Others are slim and trim and may not even hold the door open. You might even trip on one when walking through same door. Hence, they don’t serve a useful purpose.

In case you haven’t sensed my sarcasm, I don’t like printed journals. Yes, I know. Printers now will hate me. Some nonprofits will not accept this premise. I understand their sentiments, but after years of dealing with the “Journal Project,” I cannot in good conscience recommend a printed journal to any nonprofit.

I once worked for a nonprofit where I eliminated the printed journal and substituted a different fundraising option. After several years, a prominent board member in favor of printed journals got up at a board meeting and read a poem written by his granddaughter. He asked how can I not put this beautiful, poignant poem into the journal? I was nauseous, but his speech was persuasive and he turned the board around. Regrettably, we returned to the printed journal.

So, you ask, why do I feel so strongly? Here’s why.

Printed journals are labor-intensive projects. Keeping track of an assortment of sizes and colors, and order based on political sensitivities, is a project unto itself. However, that’s the easy part. What I experienced was having donors call in their ads, many at the last minute, with the following request: “Why don’t you compose something for me?” Staffs always were consumed with creating new prose masterpieces that had to go through many approvals before being finalized. The back and forth alone was time consuming.

Then came the proofing process, which was stress driven, especially for “last minute” donors. And, Heaven forbid, if a sentence, a word or a letter were out of place or omitted, we would never hear the end of it. Or, worse yet, if the ad was inadvertently left out, or misplaced within the book, then it was a cause for corporal punishment. And if you missed the printer’s deadline, oy vey voy!

This brings me to the cost of printed journals. OMG! What a waste of money! Some of these journals cost in the tens of thousands of dollars. As a donor, I don’t want my money to be sunk into an uneconomical sinkhole. I want my money to go to the cause and to the essential services of the cause. There are some nonprofits that spend extravagant sums to put in page after page of pictures and other superfluous designs. Yes, some of the information is for marketing purposes. But, there are other ways to market your nonprofit.

Here’s what happens after the event. Truckloads of journals are left behind on tables. Few want them and, other than the honorees and some of their family, friends and staff, journals find their way to the recycling depot. People no longer want to clutter up their home with printed journals.

There are those who argue that vendors and corporate America need to show printed ads to justify their marketing expense. There are ways to get around this and still meet their needs. So, what are alternatives to the printed journal? There are many new and innovative options.

In case you haven’t noticed, the trend is to get away from printed journals.

For a number of years, the Scroll of Honor, has become a popular way to recognize someone in writing without an elongated testimonial. The scroll comes in various formats. Some recognize the donor in the hierarchy of giving; largest gifts first in descending order by donor name. Some scrolls have a sentence or two about the honorees, but no longer replicate “War and Peace.”

Other organizations are taking advantage of putting their journal online—either on their website or with a vendor whose sole business is to display your Scroll of Honor or journal. By inputting your name or the honoree’s name, or by typing in the size of donor page, you can go directly to the ad. Others show the “ads” on a large screen at the event and make this accessible after the event on a CD.

My son and daughter-in-law were recently honored as “Parents of the Year” at an annual dinner. The nonprofit gave everyone a gold key, which actually was a flash drive that had the ads on it, along with other marketing materials. They also placed digital tablets on all the tables and guests could easily see their ad by going to the search function.

There are many other substitutes to the printed journal. You are only limited by your creativity. So, are you ready to get rid of your doorstop?

By Norman B. Gildin, president, Strategic Fundraising GroupBy Norman B. Gildin, president, Strategic Fundraising Group

Norman B. Gildin has fundraised for nonprofits for more than three decades and has raised upwards of $92 million in the process. He is the president of Strategic Fundraising Group, whose singular mission is to assist nonprofits raise critical funds for their organization. He can be reached at [email protected].