How to raise a lot more money by thinking like donor

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16 February 2016

How to raise a lot more money by thinking like donor

Your donors don't give a rip about how well your programs are designed. They don't even care how your programs work.

They just want to know how you are making the world better.

Actually, they don't really care about that either. What they really want to know is if their money, working through your organization, will make the world better.

Show them that, and you're raising funds.

A recent post at Get Fully Funded, The Only Question You Need to Answer, is a great reminder that we need to focus on what donors care about. Not what we on the inside care about:

Stop talking about your 25th anniversary and who's on your Board. Stop talking about the conference you just went to or an industry award you won. [P]eople want to know that you're having an impact. They want to know that their money is making a difference.

Think like a donor. Always ask "What difference will my gift make?" Not "How does the program work?"

Posted by Jeff Brooks on 16 February 2016 at 06:16 | 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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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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