Stupid storm ad ignores the humanity - Future Fundraising Now

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20 November 2012

Stupid storm ad ignores the humanity

The Ad Council is a juicy source of some real Stupid Nonprofit Ad action.

That's too bad, because they've done some great work in the past. But apparently the forces of clever abstractionism are so strong in the ad industry all you're going to get when agencies donate their time is self-indulgent, high-production conceptual abstractions.

Like this one, done to encourage donations post Super Storm Sandy:

(Or watch it here on YouTube.)

Get it? Money can turn into anything. So give money!

Give us a break.

Let's remember the central fact about fundraising: People give to touch people. If you want to unlock their philanthropy, you need to show them who needs help. During times of disaster, this becomes very easy to do, because the news media are putting those images and stories everywhere donors look.

People do not give because they're impressed by your cleverness and production prowess.

This is the Ad Council, which apparently acts in a vacuum. But these same ad agency geniuses would love to do similar work for you. Just say no!

Thanks to Osocio for the tip.

More Stupid Nonprofit Ads.

Posted by Jeff Brooks on 20 November 2012 at 08:22 | Permalink

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The future of fundraising is not about social media, online video, or SEM. It's not about any technology, medium, or technique. It's about donors. If you need to raise funds from donors, you need to study them, respect them, and build everything you do around them. And the future? It's already here. More.

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Jeff Brooks has been serving the nonprofit community for more than 30 years and blogging about it since 2005. He considers fundraising the most noble of pursuits and hopes you'll join him in that opinion. You can reach him at jeff [at] jeff-brooks [dot] com. More.

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