The difference between boring fundraising and inspiring fundraising

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29 December 2014

The difference between boring fundraising and inspiring fundraising

Do you ever wonder what makes people complain about fundraising?

Maybe a lot of it is complaint-worthy. Annoying. An irrelevant waste of time.

It doesn't have to be that way. It can be inspiring, fun, and life-affirming.

Here's a look at the difference, from Hands On Fundraising, at Are you bothering people or inspiring them?

Things that might bother donors:

Your budget
Your fundraising goals
A chance to be an extra in your drama

To which I'll add:

Your elevator speech
How excellent your processes are
How difficult fundraising is
How few people care enough to donate
How gigantically, overwhelmingly huge the problem you're tackling is

Things that can inspire

Her kindness
Her generosity
A chance to star in the story
A chance to change someone's life

To which I'll add:

How important this gift can be
How her giving stretches every dollar to accomplish more
How giving to you connects with her values

Posted by Jeff Brooks on 29 December 2014 at 08:38 | Permalink

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What this blog is about
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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About the blogger
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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I'm a Fundraisingologist at Moceanic, the company that can help you transform the way you do fundraising through one-on-one coaching or membership in The Fundraisingology Lab. Find out what we can do for you and with you!

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