Don't tell donors what they are not doing

I visit a lot of nonprofit websites, so I see a lot of banner ads for nonprofits. They follow me around like hopeful little stalkers.

I'm not complaining. And I happen to know that this type of targeted online advertising can be quite effective -- when it supports other direct-response fundraising efforts like direct mail.

But I want to complain a little about this one for The International Rescue Committee. I saw a number of versions of it at the end of the year. Here's one:

I also heard public radio underwriter breaks that put it even more baldly: It's not charity. It's humanity.

Why would any fundraiser ever want to say that?

They replace "charity" -- something donors believe in, understand, and loving doing -- with "humanity" -- an abstraction without no clear action connected to it. Is that supposed to persuade someone to act? What would the action be? It's like going to music lovers and saying It's not music. It's organized air vibrations.

Oh, the humanity!

Is "charity" something shameful? Anyone who thinks so is so far from the emotional heart of charitable giving, they really need to find some other form of employment.

I don't know anything about the background of this campaign, but it smacks of the work of clueless Brand Experts: They're the professional locusts that goad nonprofits into abstract and ineffective messaging. They're the ones most often responsible for Stupid Nonprofit Ad.

You might be wondering why I'm not labeling this a Stupid Nonprofit Ad. Three reasons:

1. It's not really stupid. Wrong-headed, but not stupid.
2. The image looks like it's from Typhoon Haiyan, which hit the Philippines shortly before I started encountering this campaign. Points for relevance.
3. The words "Your gift matched now." That's a big step into relevance for donors. That's smart fundraising, even if they rest of the campaign isn't.

But really -- don't tell donors what they're not doing. Give them a real reason to give. Let them change the world. Don't make them part of someone's weird philosophical quest.