Photo credit: Jim Young/Reuters

The pundits have been weighing in on US President Obama receiving this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. The recurring question: Is his 9-month presidency enough time to judge his accomplishments?

While there’s a general consensus that Obama has done much to improve America’s global image/value, critics argue that it is too soon to see any significant Return on Investment (ROI) when it comes to world peace.

In fundraising circles, we struggle with choices when it comes to ROI vs. Value, or the needs of the organization vs. the interest of donors, or operating at a low cost per dollar raised vs. investing in new, untried opportunities.

Which one is more important? And which one do we focus our energies on?

I think the way to overcome this conflict is not to think of them as ‘either/or’, but instead to embrace them as ‘both/and’. One shouldn’t be greater than the other. Rather, nurturing both should be your focus, and it will aid in the development of your organization.

Accepting that a fundraising leader’s role needs to be a ‘both/and’ approach is the almost never spoken of but a fundamental key to success.