Future Fundraising Now

Educating is not fundraising ... so what is?

Educating is not fundraising.

This is a hard truth for many of us, because we know a lot more about our cause, the problems we tackle, and the ways we approach our work. It’s natural to assume that if we can deposit some of the knowledge into donors’ minds, they’ll be more likely to give.

That’s a bad assumption, and it leads to a lot of ineffective fundraising.

Because charitable giving is not a matter of knowledge. It’s a matter of heart-driven action.

Every sentence you spend on teaching donors about the cause is a waste that doesn’t move most donors any closer to giving.

To move donors to action, it’s far better to tell them about things they already know, as explained in this great post on the Better Fundraising Blog: Start on Common Ground.

Here’s the key point:

If you would like your letters and emails to raise more money, they should begin by talking about something the donor already understands, as opposed to asking the donor to learn something new.

This is surprisingly difficult to do. Because in your own head, your knowledge about your cause and your programs is tightly connected to your sense of the need to join the cause.

The more I know, the more I understand, the more I give.

But that’s not how it works with donors. (And it probably doesn’t work that way even with you, it’s an illusion.)

This is why successful fundraising is built around storytelling.

This is why successful fundraising keeps it simple.

This is why we raise the most when we appeal to the donor’s heart.

Education is a very good thing. But it’s not a clear path to giving.

Why are your donors interested in the wrong things?

In the early morning hours of a late-winter day in 1990, two men dressed as police officers got into an art museum. They tied up the two guards on duty in the basement and proceeded to grab 13 pieces of art, most notably two Rembrandts and a Vermeer. They left with their loot and were never caught.

The value of the stolen art was estimated at $200 million dollars. At the time it was the biggest art heist ever. Despite intense investigations, the case remains unsolved.

This isn't the plot of a movie. It's something that happened at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. If you haven't been to this museum, there are two things you should know:

1. You should visit, any chance you get. It's one of the coolest places in Boston.
   
2. It's different from most museums. More crowded with art from everywhere and from across the centuries. It's almost chaotic, compared to most museums, and that's because Isabella Stewart Gardner, a wealthy art collector, made it that way. On her death she created a $1 million endowment and stipulated that the collection be permanently exhibited without any kind of change.
   

Gardner's stipulation means that when those pieces of art were stolen, museum officials couldn't just rearrange the collection to fill the empty spots.

They had to leave empty frames where the pieces had been.

Empty picture frames.

It's probably not surprising that those empty frames are the most popular and sought-out things exhibited in the entire amazing museum.

But come on! In a museum packed floor-to-ceiling with incredible and unique works of art -- people go looking for empty picture frames? I know I was especially looking forward to them.

That must drive the people who work at the museum up the wall. I don't know this; I just imagine it to be so. For all I know they might just love the empty picture frames.

There's a reason visitors to the museum love the empty picture frames:

They tell a story. A dramatic story that takes no background knowledge to understand and appreciate.

Of course, every piece in the museum also tells a story, many of them dramatic. That's true of most things in most museums, and those stories are what the museums want to share with their visitors...

...who may or may not be interested in them.

I'm telling you this for a reason that impacts fundraisers in a big way: People -- all people, including your donors -- love stories.

But they don't love all stories equally.

And that means they they may not care about the story you want them to love. They prefer to look at the empty picture frames.

You can scold and cajole them all you like, but that won't change what grabs their attention. Scolding is not interesting, so most won't even notice you're scolding them.

You can hide the stories they like, hoping that will channel them toward the stories you want them to like. But that won't work. They'll just stop paying attention.

Or you can work with the stories they want. Stop trying to force them into your world and your preferred stories. Enter their world and their stories -- and use those to motivate them to action.

This is not easy to do. Because the heroes of those stories won't be you. Or your brilliant staff and leadership. It sometimes won't even the people you exist to help -- though they will likely be in the stories you tell.

The story that will grab their attention like an empty frame on a museum wall will be about the amazing action they can be part of ... how they can change the world by putting their values into action ... how they can make a difference in a distressing world ...

Things that are not about your organization. You are a secondary character in those stories.

That might make you cringe, like a curator of an amazing museum watching people rush past important and unique things to gather in front of an empty picture frame.

But your best response is not to fight it. You'll never win, because people love the stories they choose to love. You have no vote in this matter.

So work with the stories your donors are drawn to. Grab their attention. Thrill them. Connect with them.

People who visit to see your empty picture frames are hundreds of times more likely to engage in the other stories you have to offer than those who don't show up at all.

2 of the magic words of fundraising

Here’s an easy formula for making your fundraising more relevant to donors.

It’s just two words: So That, from the Linked in newsletter, Fundraising Friday.

Here’s an example from the article:

Before
We serve orphaned children in southern Malawi by providing education, residential care, family reunification, and vocational training.

It’s a listing of program activities. If you’re an organization insider, the value and importance of these things is likely self evident.

But if you’re not an insider or expert -- like the large majority of your donors -- it’s just a list. No sense of the value or importance of the activities. No reason to donate now.

So you add reasons with the magic words.

With “so that”
We serve orphaned children in southern Malawi by providing education, residential care, family reunification, and vocational training so that they can experience healing, restoration, and the hope of a bright future.

And you might find you can say a lot less about what you do and how you do it ... and say more about why.

That’s the part donors care about. They want to make the world better. They’re not in it for funding programs.

4 words you should never use in fundraising

The need never ends.

It’s a common trope in fundraising.

It’s based on the assumption that people are motivated to give when they understand that a problem is big and/or intractable.

Bad assumption. In fact, statements like that are reasons not to donate.

The Better Fundraising Blog points out the problem, at The Need Never Ends:

A core motivator for individual donors is to make a change happen. By saying that the need never ends, this organization is also guiding people’s attention on the fact that their contributions will never solve the problem – that the situation will never change.

Fundraising is about hope and change. It’s about meaningful solutions that donors can be part of.

When you focus on how huge and difficult a problem is, you’re really telling donors there’s really no point in giving. You won’t make a difference.

In some cases, it may be that the need never ends. But that’s beside the point for donors.

They’re looking for ways to make a difference, even in a small way.

That’s what you need to talk about.

Fundraising: Do positive or negative messages work better?

Some fundraisers insist that effective fundraising must put "negative" information in front of donors -- that is, a problem for them to help solve.

Others say we should inspire donors to action by showing them positive change that they can become part of by giving.

Which is right?

The Boomerang Blog suggests positive/negative is the wrong question, at How Do You Use Psychological Appeal Persuasion Triggers So They Complement Each Other?

Instead, it's about giving donors the "gift of joy."

When you use scarcity ... you’re actually tapping into something positive the donor wants. [W]hen you channel the principle of loss aversion, you simply give people a ... choice. Go down the one route and something they care about will be lost. Go down the other route and they, and those they help, will win.

If you're stuck in the positive/negative either/or paradigm, it seems you have to choose between:

• All good news, which tells donors they aren't needed.
  
• All bad news, which can work up to a point, but isn't sustainable because it shows them they don't make any difference.
  

Not a good place to be stuck.

Instead, fundraisinag should go like this:

• There's a problem (a very real and serious problem).
  
• But there's also a solution, and you can be part of it.
  

Then (and here's the key that far too many fundraisers don't do), you show them that the solution is happening. That their giving really did what you said it would do. This second part happens when you thank donors and report back, and it's key to keeping new donors.

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.
   

What your donors want from you

We know what we want from donors.

It's funding to power our organization and change the world.

There's no such thing as a free lunch. If you want the funding, you need to give something in return. But what?

Here are some great thoughts from the Veritus Group Blog, at Four Things That All Donors Want:

1. To be known. Probably every human on this planet has a secret worry that hardly anyone knows who they are or really cares about them. It haunts us all. And it's often fed by the way we get treated by corporations and (sadly) the nonprofits we support. When we send irrelevant fundraising that's all me-me-me and no "you can do" -- we support that dreadful hypothesis that they aren't known. It's even worse when we fail to thank them for giving. Or thank them in a perfunctory, sloppy way. Let your donor know she matters to you and is known by you!
   
2. To be treated as a partner. Are you donors just a source of cash? Or are they valued partners in your shared mission to make the world a better place? Show them which one they are with donor-focused fundraising that's abut what they can do -- not how awesome you are!
   
3. To be told the truth. Never stretch the truth, even a tiny little bit. Be open, clear, and honest all the time. You owe that to your donors.
   
4. To know their gift made a difference. Your donors are afraid their donation is not important, doesn't accomplish anything, and isn't appreciated. Show them otherwise. Thank them promptly, with real emotion. And keep reporting back to them the amazing things they've helped make happen.
   

Those are things your donors hope to get from their giving. Far too often, they aren't getting those things. If you are one of the few who are meeting their needs, they will keep responding to you.

That's the secret.

The real reasons donors donate

Why do your donors give?

Is it because your organization is awesome and doing a great job at something important?

Yes, but not really.

The real reason they give is something inside their own heads, according to the Better Fundraising Blog at People Make Donations to Tell Ourselves...

Here's why they give:

You and I make donations in order to tell ourselves who we are.

Of course, you need to be awesome. You owe that to your cause, yourself, and your donors.

But when it comes to asking, you are on your donors' turf. And you'll do a lot better by speaking your donors' internal language, and show them how their donation makes them more truly and deeply who they are.

What that means is if you want to do well in fundraising, your messaging should...

... tell donors that they’ll love giving to your organization. Your fundraising will need to tell them that your organization has the same values that your donor has. Your fundraising will need to communicate, “people like you give gifts to this organization.”

You can ignore this reality -- most fundraisers do. You'll just raise less money for your cause.

The real reason donors give to nonprofits

Why do donors give you money?

It's pretty simple, really, as articulated at the MarketSmart blog, VALUE:

People will pay to feel good.

There's a lot behind that, of course: A lot of different kinds of feeling good and different causes for it.

But keep this in mind: The main thing you have to give in return for their money is how you make them feel. Then you're most of the way to smart fundraising and excellent donor relationships.

(This post first appeared on July 24, 2017.)

Forget the doubters; raise funds from your believers

Why is it hard to raise funds?

One reason is that large numbers of people don't believe what you're saying. No matter how obvious and self-evident you think it is.

That's what Seth Godin reminds us at Facts are not the antidote for doubt:

... facts won't change a mind that doesn't want to be changed. More facts don't counter more doubt. Someone who is shaking his head, arms folded, eyes squinted and ears closed isn't going to be swayed by more facts.

This tells us a lot about the weird state of US politics these days.

But more to our point, it reminds us of one of the important truths about fundraising:

You are never fundraising from "everybody."

The only people who have any chance of responding to your asks are those who already know, understand, and believe. Everyone else doesn't know about your cause, or doesn't care about it, or won't believe you in any case.

Don't waste your time and money on those people. You aren't going to get them.

Instead, tell the story of a problem members of your "tribe" want to solve. And don't try it with facts; they have almost no impact on the hearts even of believers!

(This post first appeared on June 8, 2017.)