Fundraisers: you need to consider the Boston Matrix!

I was once told that fundraisers always think in pyramids. Reader, I blogged about it. Then I heard that they also think in circles. I've blogged on occasion about that too. But nowadays, there's another diagram that I find even more useful: the humble matrix. OK, so this isn't the first or even the second time I've blogged about matrices either (Who knew? I didn't.) but this matrix is such a useful one when considering your fundraising strategy. I'm talking about the Boston Matrix. It's also known as the Growth-Share Matrix, which gives you an indication of what areas we're thinking about. It's been used over decades by businesses to assess their product portfolio. Fundraisers: you need to use it to think about your own income streams! Here's what to do. Divide the page into four equal quadrants by drawing one horizontal and one vertical line, as below. The vertical line represents market growth, the horizontal line represents relative market share. Your "stars" are in the quadrant with both high relative market growth and high market share (your own piece of the action) Your "question marks" have high market growth but lower relative market share Your "cash cows" have lower market growth but higher market share, and Your "dogs" have (you guessed it) lower market growth as well as lower market share. Why do I like this matrix so much? Well, firstly because it represents a  new way of looking at income diversity, or spread of income. So