# Connection Concern Capacity > *Connection Concern Capacity* is a framework by Kay Sprinkel Grace that identifies three key attributes of potential donors: emotional connection (emotional), concern (intellectual), and capacity (financial). Grace argues that emotional connection and intellectual concern are stronger indicators of a donor's potential involvement than financial capacity alone. RELATED FUNCTIONS: [[Gifts & Grants]], [[Governance]] Nonprofit arts organizations produce, present, or steward creative work that doesn’t capture its full cost back from direct exchange. That is a feature, not a flaw. But it’s a feature that leaves arts managers continually seeking contributed income.  Since the amount to be raised each year is significant and recurring, it’s easy to narrow focus on *donor capacity* above all other indicators. Obvious wealth and high income *must* be the metric that matters, or at least be a primary filter for our energy, attention, and time. But development consultant Kay Sprinkel Grace and others suggest that such a narrow view is a fatal mistake. In *[Beyond Fundraising](https://amzn.to/3BPD5jk)* (2005), she names a trilogy of indicators, of which the last is the least useful: *connection*, *concern*, and *capacity*. According to Grace: - **Connection** is the emotional connection an individual or institution has with your organization – it derives from direct, personal experience with your people and your work. It is the strongest factor in determining the potential for the donor-investor’s involvement. - **Concern** is the domain of intellectual and thoughtful attention. “A person can be concerned about an organization’s mission without being emotionally linked to it,” writes Grace. Here the focus is on problems, and their promised or demonstrated solution. - **Capacity**, or available financial resources, is the weakest indicator of inclination to give. But it’s often where organizations *begin* their prospect development and commit their attention and time.  Other authors have offered other trinities – [propensity/affinity/capacity](https://www.iwave.com/resources/blog/what-is-propensity-affinity-and-capacity/), for example. But the general lesson is the same: A financial donation is more than a transaction, it’s an *expression* of connection or concern. Successful efforts to find and retain donors will engage the heart and the head rather than prioritizing the wallet. SOURCE: Grace, Kay Sprinkel. *Beyond Fundraising: New Strategies for Nonprofit Innovation and Investment*. John Wiley & Sons, 2011. --- ## Tags (click to view related pages) #functions/gifts_grants #seedling