Warning: This video will make you cringe.
A clueless Australian newscaster tries to tell the Dalai Lama a Dalai Lama joke. It doesn't connect. It misses by a mile. The Lama only laughs when he realizes it's a failed attempt at a joke.
(Or watch it here on YouTube.)
Something like this could happen to you if you attempt humor in fundraising. Humor doesn't travel well across cultural and generational lines. What you think is funny may be just confusing words to your donors. That blank look of incomprehension we see on the Dalai Lama's face is likely what happens when you try to be funny with donors.
Humor is difficult to pull off in the best of conditions. (That "Make me one with everything" joke isn't all that funny, even if you understand it.) When you try to send a joke across cultural or generational lines -- it's probably not going to land.
Even if it does, the humorous mood is a long way away from the compassionate mood that's most conducive to giving.
Humor is fun, and it feels good to give and receive. But it's risky in fundraising. Any time you get the urge to use it, please watch this video first.
