Mission Match

A couple days ago I shared a simple diagram that explains what likely happened when a piece of your fundraising doesn’t raise as much money as you normally raise.

Today I want to focus on the small area where the circles overlap, which is called the Mission Match.

The Mission Match is the narrow spot where the nonprofit and the donor have the same mission. 

You understand this concept already.  You know that very few of your donors are interested in your organization’s accounting practices.  You know that few of your donors want to hear about your real estate strategy.  So you don’t mention those things in your fundraising.

Great.  Now, take this idea further.  Figure out which part of your work is a Mission Match with the most people. 

You do this by sending out pieces of fundraising that focus on different parts of your work, and paying attention to which parts of your work raise the most money.

My next post will give you an example of how one organization did this and raised significantly more money from their donors.

But for now, start thinking about how the idea of the Mission Match can cause your fundraising messaging to improve.  Set aside questions like, “How can we talk about our work so that people fall in love with us” and “what do we think is the most powerful part of our work?”

Replace those questions with, “what do a lot of people already care about that overlaps with our work?”

The answers to that question lead you to create fundraising that helps more people see that they have a Mission Match with your organization.  And when you do that, more donors join and more money comes in.