Never Assume
I was struck by the following comment by Pamela Barden in her recent Fundraising Success article, Not to Be Rude … but What’s in It for Me?
She writes:
“Too often, we assume that the potential donor knows what we’re talking about. Take for example the current famine in the Horn of Africa. It’s massive. People are dying. But I have heard about it exactly one time in the media. I’ve received e-mails from several international development agencies about it, asking me to support their relief efforts, but between the economy, the country’s debt rating, fears about our retirement portfolios and early attention on the many presidential hopefuls, it’s easy to overlook a famine thousands of miles away.”
Pamela makes a good point.
Even your organization’s more dedicated donors have many distractions, and aren’t likely to be following every last bit of news or information about your issue or current priority.
Sure, you can assume a greater degree of awareness and ‘up-to-date-ness’ amongst existing donors when preparing special appeals, renewals and other house fundraising mailings. But be careful not to assume too much knowledge even then.
And especially with prospecting — even with the most exquisitely targeted prospecting lists — don’t assume recipients are up to speed on the problem you’re putting before them.
There’s no golden rule — at least none I’m aware of — that distinguishes ‘too much’ background from ‘too little’. But here’s one way to help find the sweet spot — try your copy out on someone who fits your target profile, but isn’t a current donor.
What questions are they left with? What didn’t you tell them that they wanted to know?
Tom
One response to “Never Assume”
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Amen! At least four clients, who shall remain nameless, come immediately to mind for spouting “oh, our donors are very smart and plugged in” …”we’ve talked to them about issue X before so don’t go into a lot of details” …etc.
No, donors aren’t dumb. But they are busy, distracted and — you might want to sit down for this — they don’t remember your every communication.