Fundcrushing: the evil cousin of fundraising

I came across this piece of direct mail recently:

The fact that there are 9,500 homeless people in the community is not a reason to donate. It's more of a reason not to donate.

The piece digs itself in even deeper on the back of the envelope:

I love this technique of having information on the back of the envelope. But it's full of numbers!

Doubled in size! 25% increase! 4x the impact! 200 families! 400 children! $26.55!

It's mental spaghetti. Worse than that, as with the 9,500 homeless people on the front of the envelope, it's trying to stir the reader to action by impressing her with big numbers.

That doesn't work.

I call it fundcrushing. It's the evil cousin of fundraising. It's more or less the opposite of fundraising.

Let's look at the difference between the two approaches:

Fundraising

• You can change the world.
• Meet this person you can help.
• Here's the result you can expect when you give.
• Hope.

Fundcrushing

• The problems are huge beyond imagining
• Grasp the enormity of the problem.
• Here's the process we use.
• Despair and guilt.

Fundcrushing is depressingly common. I think it comes from a spirit of frustration that comes from being unable to get everyone on board. It tries to scold and cajole people into giving.

Fundraising is a more experienced, realistic approach: It knows you can't get everyone to join you -- but you can get some. If you invite them to change the world with you.

Fundraising works a lot better at raising funds.