I just read some great fundraising observations by Francesco Ambrogetti, writing in 101Fundraising. He talks about the extinction of ‘donor sapiens’.

Francesco notes that most fundraisers, when they first contemplate what it might take to attract a new donor, seem properly aware that they need to appeal to the emotions. He observes that at that stage, fundraisers “… spend most of our resources in conceiving appeals, looking for stories and finding the right words, images or videos to trigger the donor’s emotions so that they will engage with us.”

We seem to have in mind what Francesco characterizes as ‘Donor Vulgaris’ in the illustration below.

But then — if I can interpret for Francesco — we seem to presume some sort of evolutionary metamorphosis has occurred in which the species we initially attract with pheromones (or whatever) transforms into a ‘Donor Sapiens’.

Here’s what a ‘Donor Sapiens’ is:

“These particular creatures are always well informed (we send them the newsletters and they can go to our website no?), they donate on time and they know when to renew their gift, they are altruistic so they don’t need to be thanked, they clearly know that we need to cover our overhead costs and they are happy to be over solicited, they enthusiastically engage their friends in the causes they support, etc.”

And of course Francesco points out, ‘Donor Sapien’ isn’t extinct … this creature has never existed! It’s a fantasy creature wistfully imagined by fundraisers not aware of basic biology.

He argues that “emotions not only drive actions (and donations) but also strongly contribute to memory formation, so that every time a donor gets in contact with our cause he or she is expecting to get engaged by the same emotions not by our organizational blurbs.”

Amen! Great metaphor, Francesco.

Fundraisers, read his entire post: Is it me you’re looking for? The sad extinction of the donor sapiens.

And if you’re living in a ‘caterpillar into a butterfly’ dream world. Forget about it. Renewals, special appeals, sustainers — it’s all about emotion.

Tom

P.S. Francesco also discusses another myth, a corollary — that donors stop giving as a rational act.