3 things that make your fundraising message stand out in the crowd

A disturbing and often-forgotten reminder from The Agitator: Fundraiser, You're Not Alone.

As much as we like to imagine "our" donors are in a monogamous relationship with us, eagerly waiting for our messages with nothing else going on -- it's just not like that. Donors donate. They're on many lists. The older they are, in general, the more different organizations they support and the more mail, email, and calls they get.

And it's even more true the last two months of the year.

As The Agitator puts it:

Why do you think that donor (the one you call yours) will pay any attention to your appeal, need, organization? What will make your appeal special, distinctive, differentiated? Once you've figured that out, multiply it by the dozens of appeals you'll probably send out over those 61 days.

There are a lot of things you can do to cut through the clutter and move the donor to give. Here are three that really matter:

1. Make your message about the donor, not about your organization.
   
2. Ask the donor to do something specific (and wonderful).
   
3. Make sure your words and images depict the problem you're inviting the donor to help solve.