Yoda fundraising for Luke Skywalker donors

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26 November 2012

Yoda fundraising for Luke Skywalker donors

Here's a wonderful TEDx talk by Nancy Duarte. It's about giving presentations, but you'll see how it applies to fundraising too:

Or watch it here on YouTube.

Early on, she makes a point that's so very important for presenters: You are not Luke Skywalker. You are Yoda.

That is, you aren't the hero in the room. The people you're talking to are the heroes. You're the little wise-man who equips the hero to be a hero.

It's exactly the same in fundraising. You may feel like you (or your organization) is the hero, doing all the great stuff you do, and recruiting sidekicks for your mission.

In successful fundraising, you recognize that each of your donors is Luke, seeking his way to save the world (galaxy). You are there to help him find his way by placing excellent fundraising offers before him.

If you think that way, your fundraising will always be better.

Thanks to the Claxon Marketing blog for the tip.

Posted by Jeff Brooks on 26 November 2012 at 07:48 | 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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