In your mass donor fundraising, how you deliver your fundraising offer is half as important as what your fundraising offer is.
How do we know that those things are about half as important? Here’s how…
The 40 / 40 / 20 Rule
You may have heard about the 40-40-20 rule. It’s one of the most valuable pieces of information we can provide you:
- 40% of the success of any fundraising is who you are talking to.
For instance, if you’re talking to major donors, you can expect to raise more money than if you’re talking to non-donors.
- 40% of the success of any fundraising is the Offer.
The “offer” of any fundraising piece (letter, email, newsletter, etc.) is what you promise will happen when a donor gives a gift. The better your offer, the more money you’ll raise.
- 20% of the success of any fundraising is the “creative” – how you deliver your offer.
This is the writing style, whether you’re donor-centric or not, the typeface you use, the header on your email, etc.
Here’s What You Should Do
Any time you’re creating a fundraising piece that’s going to all your donors, be more concerned with what your offer is than with how the piece delivers the offer.
In other words, spend more time thinking about how you’re going to describe what will happen when a donor gives a gift. Spend less time trying to sound like your Executive Director, or with getting your grammar just right.
Because most organizations spend most of their time on how they write. On “getting their voice right.” Or on using brand colors. But, those things matter only half as much as what you promise will happen when your donor gives a gift.
Spend more time on the portion of your communications that makes the most difference. Spend less time on the portion of your communications that makes the least difference.
This post is excerpted from the Better Fundraising e-book “Fundraising Offers.” Download it for free, here.
