But it’s not easy for you. It’s hard work. Because, inside the mind of a potential donor, many things are working against you. I don’t know enough about you. I can’t make a real difference. I don’t think of myself as a philanthropist. I don’t know how to evaluate one charity against another. I don’t…
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BOO!
Halloween is creeping up on us, so I’ve got some really scary stuff for you!
Don’t get too spooked. There are also a few treats.
In fact, you’ll get eight delicious goodies — in the form of “to-do’s.”
But first… the bad news.
No bones about it, you’re frightening folks away if you’re committing any of these 8 boo-boo’s!
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Your nonprofit’s story is the whole ball of wax.
Without it, you’ve got nothing.
So let’s really talk about this for a minute.
A story is not “Give us money because we’re good guys and do good work.”
Nor are “Sustain humanitarian aid,” “Support the arts,” or “Save our rivers” stories.
Sure, there may be some implicit narratives hiding within these phrases, but they’re really tag lines or calls to action. Useful, sure. But not until you’ve laid the groundwork of telling a compelling story.
You never start a story with “And they lived happily ever after.”
Similarly, you should never start a fundraising appeal with “We saved the whales.” Where’s the emotion and drama here?
You know donors are moved to give through emotion, right?
The best way to get inside a donor’s head and heart is by telling a dramatic, emotional story. Something that taps into their core and arouses their curiosity, or some deeper feeling like sadness, fear or anger.
You see, human brains are wired for story.
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What’s holding you back? Culture? Fear?
How do you help people afraid of fundraising become comfortable in what should be a mission-aligned role for everyone associated with your nonprofit organization?
After all, everyone benefits from increased philanthropy. Not just development staff.
Increasingly, successful nonprofits are adopting cultures of philanthropy where everyone involved – administrative staff, program staff, board members, committee members, direct service volunteers and even beneficiaries – comes together as ambassadors, advocates and askers on behalf of furthering the organization’s mission, enacting its values and fulfilling its vision.
Facilitating philanthropy is not rocket science, yet folks unaccustomed to the relationship cultivation and solicitation required to land major donations are fearful because they don’t know how to do it. Actually, they do. They just need some guidance, hand holding and support along the way. Reluctant fundraisers tend to think fundraising is just about money. It’s a lot more than that.
It’s the job of a nonprofit’s leadership to work with insiders (staff and volunteers) to help everyone feel both passionate about the cause and confident in the fundraising process.
There are barriers to be overcome; first and foremost is fundraising fear. This fear takes many forms, and is perhaps best expressed in some of the questions I frequently receive. So I’m endeavoring to answer these questions below. Hopefully this will help you address these challenges within your own organization so you, too, can transform folks from fearful and reluctant “fundraisers” to joyful and ready “philanthropy facilitators.”
DetailsWe use them to understand our world.
But do the same stories work in any time? For any person? No.
You need to understand your SMIT story – ‘Single Most Important Thing’ – at this moment in time.
And that SMIT will change, depending on the environment in which you’re operating.
You need to know your audience. Today. The story you told last year may not work as well this year. And here is why:
(1). The story must be relevant to the donor – which will depend on what is top of mind for them (hint: pay attention to the news).
(2). The need to give the story a happy ending must feel urgent (hint: pay attention to the news).
Whatever your mission, relevancy and urgency are the key to emotional appeals.
DetailsAre you starting to worry about whether you’ll raise enough money this year to meet your goals? Are you concerned because last year’s appeal didn’t raise as much as you had hoped? Are you fresh out of ideas for what to put into an appeal to generate the giving response you need to sustain vital…
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People are unpredictable sometimes. They’re also predictable.
If you see someone yawn, you’re likely to yawn too.
If I tell you seats are limited, you’re likely to purchase a ticket now rather than later.
What if you knew getting people to donate to your nonprofit could be a predictable consequence of something you did?
It turns out you can encourage people to act in desirable ways, simply by applying a few lessons learned from neuroscience, psychology and behavioral economics. The truth is scientists have learned quite a lot over the past few decades. It’s up to us to put that learning to good use!
Alas, as Daniel Pink, author of To Sell Is Human, has noted: “There’s a gap between what science knows and what business does.” This applies to social sector businesses too!
That’s right. Pink explains the most successful for-profit businesses use what science knows to “convert leads to customers.” The secret to more sales is knowing what the customer wants. Your non-profit might convert prospects into donors, and donors into repeat donors, using the very same principle.
The secret to closing more gifts is knowing what the donor wants.
Today I’d like to consider five specific strategies that will help you ethically take advantage of some of the psychology underlying human behavior. Once you understand these principles, you can begin to strategically apply them to your integrated development (marketing and fundraising) strategy. If you’re nervous about this, you can test what you did before against a new strategy informed by science. Break your mailing list randomly in half, send an “A” and a “B” version of your appeal, and see which performs best.
Ready for 5 science-informed strategies?
DetailsSoliciting donations from your supporters is hard work. It requires identifying prospects, building relationships, and ultimately asking them to contribute to your organization. Luckily, your donation page can do some of the heavy lifting for you! When optimized for the donor experience, your donation page can help potential new supporters form a positive first impression…
DetailsRecently, fundraising copywriting and thanking guru, Lisa Sargent, posted a list of “small stuff” it’s absolutely important to sweat. It to me decades – decades! — to learn this on my own in the trenches, and I’d have given anything to have had a mentor like Lisa to clue me in from the get-go. Lucky…
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When asked what my favorite carrier envelope is for a fundraising appeal, my standard answer is:
One that screams “open me!”
Of course, there are a variety of reasons an envelope may beg to be opened.
And an equal number of reasons why it may scream “dump me in the trash.”
Today I want to help you avoid the trash bin.
And, good news – it’s not that difficult.
You don’t need to be a direct mail expert.
You don’t need to run a zillion A/B tests.
You just need to exercise some good old-fashioned common sense.
First, think about what gets you to open an envelope.
I’d love for you to do some noodling on this now – before you read further.
In fact, if you want to do something really helpful, STOP reading this article, convene a few colleagues, and do a little group brainstorming. Ideally, get your answers up on a whiteboard or other group memory so you can piggyback off of each other’s ideas. [Go do this now; come back to this article later.]
If you’re not prepared to play along (I get it, you’re busy), here’s a sample I’m sharing from a brainstorm I did with another nonprofit:
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People are wired for stories
