We Measure Excellence Differently

A conversation with Graham Shaw, COO, Douglas Shaw & Associates

A bed filled for the night. A hot meal, served to someone who hadn’t eaten in a while. A surgery for a child in need. A life transformed by hearing God’s Word. For many organizations, these show up as line items in a monthly newsletter or an annual report.

But if you ask Graham Shaw whether Douglas Shaw & Associates is in the business of hitting revenue numbers or changing lives, he will tell you it’s both, every time.

Graham has spent more than 20 years at Douglas Shaw & Associates—the company his father, Doug Shaw, started more than 31 years ago and still leads today. Graham serves as Chief Operating Officer, overseeing the systems and processes that turn strategy into results. Yet ask him what we mean by “measuring excellence differently,” and the conversation doesn’t stay on process for long. That conviction—the changing-lives half of the equation—isn’t something he arrived at in a strategy meeting. It goes back to childhood.

“It really became impactful for me even when I was a kid,” Graham says. He remembers visiting National Camps for Blind Children and spending two days with a blind boy his age who “took me under his wing” and even beat him at the climbing wall. What stayed with Graham was seeing how completely the organization had adapted their world at the camp so the children could run free. Something these children did not get to experience at home.

What’s Behind the Numbers

Ask Graham to name a number he can’t look at anymore without picturing a face, and he doesn’t hesitate: “I think of Cindy, a woman in Nashville whose story we shared in a newsletter. She’d gone through so much in her life—never really knew what it was like to live outside of chaos.” Hearing her gratitude and then seeing how strongly donors responded “hit me hard. When it connects the way hers did, that’s the moment I think of every time I look at a stat now.”

Where Changing Lives Meets Hitting Numbers

As COO, Graham sits at the intersection of changing lives and hitting numbers—and he believes Douglas Shaw & Associates must be about both.

“Fulfilling our promise to change as many lives as we can—that’s a commitment we’ve made to ourselves and to our clients,” Graham says. “But so is raising the revenue we’ve projected for you. It’s not a guarantee, but it’s something we strive for every single day and hold close to our hearts.”

This means having hard conversations, too. “If communicating your message a certain way is going to cost you in response, we have to be honest with you about that—without letting it damage the relationship.”

What “We Care” Looks Like When It’s Hard

Anyone can say “we care.” It means something else entirely when a client partner is under pressure: budget’s tight, results are down, and the board is asking hard questions.

“If our results are down by 4% or more against projections, we call a 4% meeting,” Graham says. “Every top strategist in the agency, from creative, digital, data and analytics, client service—and not just those already working on the account—is pulled in to look at the whole program, determine why the numbers are down, and decide what we can do about it.”

That’s the difference between a vendor and a partner. A vendor hands back a report. A partner takes on some of the weight and says: We’re behind you, and we’re alongside you.

What the Next 20 Years Measure

Douglas Shaw & Associates was built on the conviction that direct response fundraising, done well, is an act of love—for the donor, and for the person on the other end of that gift. It is the conviction Graham’s father founded the company on 31 years ago—and one Graham has embraced as his own.

“Leaving something better than when you found it is a thought that’s always resonated with me—and something my dad modeled from the very beginning,” he says. “I want to know that an organization’s in a better place than when we first started serving them. That a team feels well served by us.”

Part of that, he adds, is what happens when something goes wrong. “Owning our mistakes and making it right when we do—that’s something we try to fulfill even when it’s really hard. That’s a vigilance my dad instilled in me.”

We’d love to partner with you to make the above a reality for your organization. Contact us today to start the conversation!