Future Fundraising Now

I can't believe what my mother-in-law just called me

Thanksgiving, many years ago. I was home from university, at my parents' house for the holiday. A handful of relatives were there too, including my grandmother, long considered the master cook of the family.

It was a Thanksgiving meal, with turkey and all the typical side dishes.

My Mom worked frantically to pull it all together.

A couple of hours before the big meal, disaster hit.

The power went out.

Leaving a half-cooked turkey, and most of the side dishes still cold.

Looked like a complete loss.

But Mom got out the old propane camp stove and the outdoor barbecue. The weather was lousy, but she managed to cook the turkey and everything else out on the tiny, windblown back porch.

The meal was delicious and plentiful. Nobody got a foodborne illness.

Afterward, Grandma (my Mom's mother-in-law) took Mom aside and told her something that has long lived in family lore:

"Jackie, you are a real chump."

Mom was staggered. She couldn't find a thing to say in reply.

What you need to know about Grandma is she was nice. Super nice. No matter what happened, no matter how annoyed she might have been about anything, she could find something nice to say. So when she called Mom a chump, it was probably the first time any of us heard her say something remotely not nice. It was a shocking and seemingly unprovoked slap in the face.

The next day, all the guests gone, Mom was still asking, "Why did she call me a chump? I thought I did a pretty good job!"

Then it occurred to us: Maybe "chump" didn't mean the same thing to Grandma that it meant to us. We looked it up in a slang dictionary (which we had, being a Family of Nerds).

Sure enough, "chump" means "a gullible, incompetent person." Just as we thought.

But there's another meaning, labeled as "obsolete": "a winner; a highly capable person." The dictionary speculated that this version of "chump" is an alternate pronunciation of "champ."

Suddenly, the whole thing made sense. Grandma was being Grandma. She was responding to the situation exactly as most people would. But with a word that confused the rest of us.

I'm telling you this because it reminds us of something important for fundraisers.

We're communicating largely with older people.

And older people are different from younger people. In a lot of ways:

• Culturally different.
  
• Psychologically different -- your brain changes as you age, causing you to be more empathetic and emotional.
  
• Physically different -- and where that matters most for us is eyesight.
  
• Different life experiences.
  
• Different design sense -- they formed their sense of what's "cool" a long time ago, when cool was very different from what it is now.
  
• And different words. Even different language.
  

You see those differences even within the same family.

This is one of the reasons fundraising is challenging. You're talking across a cultural divide, one that may not be obvious -- after all, if someone is a donor, they clearly share values with you.

It's easy and natural when writing or talking to guide yourself by what you find persuasive and motivating ...

• Your design and aesthetic sense
  
• The facts that persuade you.
  
• Your sense of appropriate and/or cool.
  
• And especially your slang, which you might not even recognize as slang.
  

Those things likely will fly right past someone from an older generation.

So be a fundraising chump (or champ, if you prefer): Keep your eyes, ears, heart, and mind open. It's how you connect with other people.

Why fundraising is all about the heart

What causes donors to donate?

Once you have an answer to that question, you are on your way to effective fundraising.

Here's a good look at that from the Veritus Group Blog, at Let Your Heart Show:

... start with the premise that major gifts are not about money, taxes, power or standing. Instead, it is a thing of the heart.... And if you operate with this belief, then your core objective will be to connect your donor’s heart to the cause.

I have two things to add to this:

1. It's true about all fundraising, not just major donors. People give from the dictates of their hearts. If your fundraising is based on facts, figures, and amazing arguments for the importance of your cause, you will be left high and dry, no matter which donors you're connecting with.
   
2. Now and then, a donor (most typically a major donor) does come up with other reasons for giving. And sometimes those reasons can lead to attempts to distort your mission to their preference. It can be tempting to go along with it in order to secure a large gift. Don't let that happen! It's unethical, and in the end it doesn't help your cause -- or the donor.
   

Don't let a direct-mail emergency throttle your year-end fundraising

The biggest (and for some, the only) fundraising season of the year is just around the corner.

If you rely on direct mail, I have what could be very scary news:

Printers and mailhouses, like many businesses, are contending with supply-chain problems, shortages, and labor shortages.

And that could be a big problem for you.

Imagine your November and December revenue drying up because you couldn't get your mail produced and out the door.

It could happen. It has happened. The results could be devastating.

The problems vary from region to region, and from printer to printer, so you may not run into it at all.

But be prepared.

If you haven't started your year-end direct mail, start now. Honestly, it's already on the late side to start, but now is better than later, and might make all the difference.

Check in with your printer. Tell them what you're planning to do, when, the quantities you will be sending, and specifications you are hoping to use. Find out if they are able to do what you want.

They might not be able to. But it would be better to find out now than at the last minute.

Be flexible:

• Your printer might need more time than usual. Maybe you can still hit your target mail date by sending them files sooner than you have before.
  
• You might not be able to mail on your preferred dates. See if you can find a workable alternate date.
  
• Be willing to negotiate on specs. The issue I've run into several times this season is problems sourcing envelopes. I haven't been able to get the envelopes I want quite a few times. Find out what's available. (And if you find out the only envelopes available are boring old #10 white-wove, it's not the end of the world. They can work just fine.)
  

Be ready for higher costs than you've seen before. Prices are up.

Ultimately, you might need to switch vendors this year. That may be a frightening prospect, but the sooner you know, the more precautions you can take.

Good luck! I hope you don't suffer any expensive surprises.

1 in 4 fundraisers want to succeed in fundraising

I recently heard about some research on professional fundraisers where they were asked what was important to them about their fundraising. The results:

• 75% wanted to feel good about their fundraising
  
• 25% wanted have more effective fundraising
  

So that's what's wrong with our profession! A large majority of us would rather feel good about their work than actual be good?

To be fair, I'll guess many (maybe even most) of the "feel good" group don't see feeling good and being good as separate or opposing things.

But they are. The more you "feel good" about your fundraising, the less effective it will be.

I know that's strange. But it's reliably true. Probably every consultant knows that awkward moment when your client says I love it! because you now you've missed the mark and the project is in real danger of performing poorly.

Effective fundraising will make you feel uncomfortable.

You may even passionately hate it.

That's just one of the weird things about fundraising.

Don't expect to like or feel good about your fundraising. And get used to that.

Base your judgement on how well your fundraising conforms to standards of excellence. Not on how it tickles your fancy.

Over time, you'll develop a strange sort of liking for that discomfort that effective fundraising brings.

(This post first appeared on October 31, 2017.)

6 common errors that kill your fundraising story

Stories make fundraising come to life.

Most people know that.

But not every story does it. Here are some common ways otherwise strong stories can become weak and useless, failing to connect with donors:

1. Your story is not emotional. A "story" that isn't emotional isn't a story. It's a list. The entire purpose of telling a story in fundraising is to connect your cause with your donors' hearts. Because 95% of your donors will not donate until you've won over their hearts. Make your story about suffering, struggle, loss ... then show the donor how they can enter the story and help create a happy ending.
   
2. Your story has the wrong hero. The hero of an effective fundraising story is not your organization. Or your amazing staff. Or visionary founder. Any or all of them may be heroic, no question. But the hero of the story you tell to win over donors must be the donor. And they are more potential heroes. You are placing before them an opportunity to do something great. It's up to them to do it.
   
3. Your story is about programs, not people. Your programs are important. They must be well-designed and brilliantly implemented. But donors don't give because you have great programs. They give because they want to make a difference for fellow human beings. Make sure that's the story you tell!
   
4. Your story is not detailed enough. The way to make a story come to life is to focus on details. Especially those telling sensory details that put the reader into the scene. Think about the five senses, and include as many as you can. That turns a story from an account into a living reality for your donors.
   
5. Your story is too detailed. While you're thinking about adding details, also think about the details that don't make the story more vivid. You aren't practicing journalism, working to include all The who-what-where-when-why. If a detail doesn't make the story more human, interesting, and emotional -- leave it out.
   
6. Your story has a happy ending. Most of the stories we gather for fundraising have happy endings. We know about them because something went right! But a happy ending lets the reader off the hook. They see that things are good, and they are not needed! Leave the happy ending off the story. Save it for your newsletter and thank you letters -- so you can show donors their giving made a difference.
   

Your fundraising is not for you [PODCAST]

The most common and destructive error fundraisers make is aiming their messages at themselves — creating what they believe would motivate them to give.

They should be aiming at their donors. And donors are very different from you in nearly every way.

Here’s help for aiming your work in the right direction so you can raise more money for your cause.

From the archives of the now-defunct podcast Fundraising Is Beautiful. This episode first aired on August 19, 2015. Listen here:

(If you don't see the audio player below, click here to listen.)

7 ways to not lose your donors

Donors who are paying attention to you are one of your most important asset.

They have a lot going on in their lives (just like you do), so it's up to you to stay visible and relevant to them. Here are some great ways to do that from Get Fully Funded, at 7 Tips for Keeping Donors Engaged Using Fundraising Communications:

1. Connect with them more often. Absence does not make the donor's heart grow fonder. When you let months go by with no communication ... you can easily be forgotten.
   
2. Provide more quality and less fluff. "Fluff" is things irrelevant to the donor, no matter how cool you think it is. Talk about the needs donors can meet and the solutions they've helped make possible.
   
3. Give them a chance to be heard. Invite feedback. Give them useful email addresses and phone numbers. Survey them. Donors you hear from often become your best donors. Even donors who never say a word -- but know they can -- also tend to be more engaged.
   
4. Use a variety of communication methods. Use all the channels at your disposal that the donor gives you permission to use: Mail, email, telephone, text, Zoom, in-person meetings ... The more the better.
   
5. Make it super easy to contact you.
   
6. Show you are listening. Thank them for things they actually helped make possible -- not just for their "support." Find ways to say back to them things they've said to you. Answer their questions, publicly or privately.
   
7. Keep it simple: one call-to-action per communication. There's only enough room in an envelope (or email) to fit one thing -- a single call to action. Don't try to save money by trying to crowd in all the things you hope they'll do.
   

Newspaper ink rub-off and blameless fundraisers -- what you can do

Remember newspapers? When you read them, the low-quality ink on the low-quality paper rubs off onto your hands. Read the Sunday paper, and your hands get black and gritty. It's kind of gross.

Ink rub-off is one of the most common complaints newspapers get from readers. In fact, ink rub-off is probably part of the reason for the decline of newspapers: You don't get grimy hands by reading your news on your phone.

The people who put out newspapers put a lot of energy into doing it right. Ethics, fairness, good writing, high journalistic standards, good design ...

I bet not one in a hundred of those dedicated professionals ever thinks about ink rub-off. As far as they're concerned, it has nothing to do with their job.

But that doesn't keep it from being a real irritant in the experience of newspaper readers.

What is your organization's "ink rub-off"? Is there something that has nothing to do with the things you work hard to do well ... yet it creates a negative experience for your donors?

Could it be a confusing website that makes it hard to give or find the information they want?

Could it be misspellings in donors' names that don't get fixed?

Could it be irrelevant messages that the donor doesn't want?

Could it be that you're renting out donors' names at a high rate, subjecting them to extreme levels of unwanted mail?

If you're a fundraiser, you can legitimately say that things like these have nothing to do with you.

But they have everything to do with the experience of your donors. And it's going to impact their likelihood of giving.

So you need to understand the "ink rub-off" issues. And fix them.

(This post first appeared on February 9, 2017.)

11 non-writing ways to write better

Writing is hard work that doesn't look much like work from the outside.

To do your best writing, here are some non-writing things you can do that really improve your creativity, productivity, and quality, from the Publication Coach blog, at How to get the ‘write’ mindset:

Here are 11 counterintuitive ways to get in the ‘write’ mindset by improving your own engagement, creativity and productivity:

1. Disconnect. All those wonderful ways you connect with the world are likely making you a worse writer by distracting you and keeping you off target. Limit your visits to your email to a few times a day. Make your writing time "sacred," not to be interrupted by IMs and other alarms. It will really make a difference for you!
   
2. Have plants on your desk. Really. Plants do something special for us.
   
3. Move more frequently. Get up and walk around from time to time. It might be helpful to set a timer to make sure you don't immobilize your body for too long.
   
4. Volunteer. It pays you back in ways that will surprise you.
   
5. Take advantage of your commute. If you commute, do so mindfully, using the time to read (or listen) to good stuff.
   
6. Quit multitasking. Sorry: nobody can really multitask. That's illusion. You think you're getting more done, but you're just doing a worse job of more things. Do one thing at a time.
   
7. Use a timer. Learn about the Pomodoro Method. Many people swear by it. Give it a try.
   
8. Plan each day the night before. It might seem more intuitive to plan your day as you start it, but by moving that step to the night before, you can often think more clearly about it. And you just might save yourself one of those toss-and-turn nights where you can't stop thinking about something that's coming up tomorrow!
   
9. Take lunch away from your desk. Yes, stop working for an hour or so. You work while you're working -- you should eat while you're eating.
   
10. Identify your most productive time and do your most challenging work during it. Everyone has a best time of day for working. Figure out yours, and then defend that time so you get the most out of it. You can get a lot more done in less time if you can arrange your time this way.
    
11. Take more breaks. Small breaks, like taking a walk during the work day. Medium breaks like having one day a week where you don't work. Bigger breaks, like vacations. They all add up to better productivity, better health, and more joy in your life.
    

So many heroes: How to decide who's the hero in fundraising

Yesterday, we looked at the common fundraising error of making the charity administrator as the hero, under the assumption that if you can stir up enough admiration for the charity and its people, donors will give.

Here's the thing: the administrator -- the nonprofit generally -- really is heroic. They do a lot more than any donor does to make the good thing happen.

In fact, there a lot of heroes in any nonprofit enterprise, many of them with more skin in the game than the donor: I'd argue that the most heroicof all, at least in some causes, is the person the donor gives to help: the person who overcomes poverty, homelessness, disease, or whatever barriers or injustices they face.

Yet we still make the donor the "hero" in fundraising.

It's a matter of storytelling. It's who we're talking to, and what we intend to accomplish by telling the story.

So let me make a nerdy comparison to the heroes in the Lord of the Rings books...

It's a sprawling story with hundreds of characters, many of them extremely heroic. But the "hero" of the story is Frodo. An ordinary person (he's even an extra-small person) who does one important thing the story.

The story is packed with people far stronger, better positioned, more magical, than Frodo.

A history book written a hundred years later looking back at the events of the story would focus on Aragorn as the hero. He brings incredible strength, courage, strategic thinking, and leadership skills to his part. And he ends up King in the end. Surely he's a much bigger deal than little Frodo.

But in the story we read, Aragorn is a side-character to Frodo. That's a choice made by the storyteller.

It's "about" Frodo because that's the character readers are more likely to identify with. Not because he's the most powerful or deserving one. A lot of great stories are like that, featuring an unlikely hero. Those stories resonate because most of us feel a lot more like Frodo than like the super-human Aragorn. That includes most donors.

That storytelling choice is the choice we all make in fundraising. Do you want to inspire ordinary people to action? Show them that they can make a difference. That's how you move people to action.

Don't focus on the other much more capable people who are in the story. They'll show up in some other telling. That's not the job of fundraising.