Effective fundraising offers are hard to create. Our curse of knowledge and insider perspective lead us to create offers we love — but miss our non-expert donors.
Here are some common ways fundraising offers go astray:
- Too big. As wonderful as it will be, we aren’t going to eliminate world poverty in the next 12 months. Anything is possible, but it isn’t believable. We can make meaningful progress toward giant goals like that — and our donors can embrace thatLike the boy in the story who was tossing stranded starfish back into the ocean from a beach covered with millions of them, progress is satisfying. If the boy had been told to clear the whole beach of starfish, he would have felt defeated before he started. Giant tasks are discouraging.
- Too philosophical. Philosophy is important, but it’s not what donors “buy” when they give. Donors buy action. Every word you use talking about philosophy is a word not talking about action — not telling donors what they need to know in order to give.
- Too much about process. Process is also important. That doesn’t make it good fundraising. Donors aren’t interested in funding your processes, no matter how elegant. Donors are buying your outcomes. Trying to raise funds by talking about processes is like taking your dog to the park and instead of throwing a stick, giving him a lesson in stick aerodynamics. You’ll have a disengaged canine companion.
- Too far from the experience of nonexperts. One of the things that makes an expert an expert is the ability to see behind the obvious. If an expert visits a community and finds malnourished children, her thought is not, “We need a whole bunch of food here!” She looks at what causes the malnutrition: What about the economy, transportation, soil health, or culture is the real problem? With her insight, she might go to donors and say, “There are hungry children here. Please help repair a bridge 10 miles from here.” If she did that, the nonexpert donors wouldn’t understand. You need to say to donors: “We need a whole bunch of food here!” The fact that we’ll get the food there by repairing a bridge is less important.
Fundraising is not for the proud. It’s not for those who need to demonstrate their expertise and who think everyone else should be just as interested in their field as they are.
One of the great fundraising offers is the $1.79 meal. It’s a great offer because it’s specific, it’s something that’s in the life experience of your donor — and it’s cheap.
Most organizations that can use the $1.79 meal offer in their fundraising do a lot more than serve meals. In fact, the meals are usually among the least important parts of their programs. But donors want solid, simple, clear offers they can understand. Are you willing to say, “Sorry, Ms. Donor. We don’t want your money until you comprehend our programs in all their complex fullness.”
That’s an expensive attitude. It’s one some nonprofits take.
Excerpted from The Money-Raising Nonprofit Brand: Motivating Donors to Give, Give Happily, and Keep on Giving by Jeff Brooks
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