This is oversimplified, but still true…
At the beginning of a nonprofit’s fundraising journey, when deciding what its fundraising should be about, the nonprofit wonders,
“How can we describe our work to be as inspirational as possible?”
Farther along on their fundraising journey, when deciding what its fundraising should be about, the nonprofit wonders,
“What do humans tend to be motivated by, and how can we talk about our work in a way that taps in to what motivates people?”
The second question results in creating fundraising that’s more interesting and relevant to drastically more people, which increases the amount of money the organization can raise.
Why? Because there aren’t that many people interested in your work itself, no matter how inspirationally you describe it.
But there are millions of people who are engaged by emotions, who want to see justice done, who want to right wrongs, and who want their gift to make a meaningful difference. Focus your fundraising on how those elements are part of your work, and your organization becomes a lot more interesting to a lot more people.
Steven Screen is Co-Founder of The Better Fundraising Company and lead author of its blog. With over 30 years' fundraising experience, he gets energized by helping organizations understand how they can raise more money. He’s a second-generation fundraiser, a past winner of the Direct Mail Package of the Year, and data-driven.
