Fundraiser, You’re Not Alone

October 18, 2016      Tom Belford

For much of the year, fundraisers can at least pretend to ourselves that our cause or charity is the the only game in town (of course our donors know better).

We can delude ourselves into thinking …

This email, this letter, this video, this Facebook post, this text message will be the highlight of my donor’s day … Nothing else is going on … It will be the only such message they’ll receive on the day … They can’t miss it … It will really stand out … get the cash register ready!

Right!

Of course that’s never true (you’ve heard of ‘willing suspension of disbelief’?!).

But it’s especially not true during the year-end window we’re now entering. Let’s pick a random start date for ‘year-end’. How about November 1?

From that day on, force yourself to assume that each and every day until January 1 each and every donor of yours (as you like to think of them) will get 1 to 5 fundraising appeals. I don’t think that’s improbable, do you?

You’re not alone. Your appeal is just one little pellet in a daily shotgun blast.

Why do you think that donor (the one you call yours) will pay any attention to your appeal, need, organization? What will make your appeal special, distinctive, differentiated? Once you’ve figured that out, multiply it by the dozens of appeals you’ll probably send out over those 61 days.

Once you’ve figured that out, with any spare time you have left, you can get ready for that true celebration of sameness … #GivingTuesday! Only 42 days to go.

Tom

One response to “Fundraiser, You’re Not Alone”

  1. Jeff Brooks says:

    Tom: 1 to 5 fundraising appeals a day? You must be talking about “zombie donors” who never actually donate. My research says it’s more like 10 pieces a day for typical direct mail donors. Which, of course, supports your point even more.