Bandwagon or Bus?

Here’s a question for your individual donor fundraising: is your nonprofit a bandwagon or a bus? 

A bandwagon nonprofit thinks people will join because it looks impressive.  The pitch is the organization itself: when it was founded, its effective programs, all the great work it’s already done.

“Look at all the good work we’ve done,” a bandwagon says, “will you give a gift to help us continue to do this good work?”

A bus nonprofit knows that people get on because the bus is going where they want to go.  There’s a big sign that says the destination or route.  A potential rider glances at it and in a second or two knows if this is her bus or not.

“You care about this,” a bus might say, “will you give a gift to help?”

I’ve seen this play out in a real appeal letter.  An organization serving moms and kids experiencing homelessness had been asking, “Will you help us continue this important work with families?”  That’s bandwagon.  But Better Fundraising wrote their next appeal and said, “You can give moms like Julianne their own apartment, and counsellors to help them recover.” 

The second appeal – the “bus” appeal – was sent a month later to the exact same mailing list and raised eight times as much money.

A bus is easier to get on.  It’s open to more people.  It’s easy to understand at a glance, and helps riders do something they already wanted to do.  So, more people board, and that means more donors. 

And here’s the thing: when people ride the bus and have a good experience, they come back.  They tell a friend.  And you know what they call a bus that a lot of people are on, having a great time, and attracting onlookers to want to get on? 

A bandwagon.

But you make the bandwagon by running a bus that people wanted to get on and are glad they took.