In the New York Times Special Section on Giving — covering a wide range of topics from foundation trends, to teaching kids to give, and the ins and outs of automobile donations — there’s a piece that will be of special interest to Agitator readers.

Asking for Money? Compliment the Donor, Not Your Organization is worth a careful read for several reasons, not least of which is that a major general circulation paper like the Times delves into a ‘how to’ subject generally reserved for fundraising blogs, books and magazines.

Of special note, from our parochial point of view, the article features many of the gang who frequent the Agitator treehouse. Folks like Tom Ahern, Jen Love and Jen Shang whose insights, comments and expertise frequently grace our pages.

Best of all Asking for Money? is a well-reported dissection of the structure and  key ingredients that go into a well-crafted, donor-centered appeal. Something that every CEO, Board member and, frankly, every copywriter and fundraiser should read.

I recommend that you not only read the piece but then share it among your colleagues and pass it on to the folks upstairs.

This easy-to-understand lesson in appeal anatomy dissects a successful year-end appeal written by Tom Ahern and directed annually to former patients of San Diego’s Sharp HealthCare system.

In it you’ll find not only a report of its results (real numbers), but excepts from the appeal and Tom’s explanation of not only why the letter contains so many ‘you’ pronouns, but also why he invoked the proven principle of ‘reciprocity’ in this letter.

Dr. Jen Shang, Director of Research at the Hartsook Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy, explains clearly how the use of reciprocity in the context of this hospital evokes the ‘moral adjective’ of ‘fairness’. According to Jen, ‘fair’ is one of nine moral adjectives she has identified as giving motivators.

The other eight are kind, compassionate, helpful, caring, friendly, generous, honest and hard-working. Of course, as Dr. Shang notes, you can’t just randomly inject these adjectives willy nilly.  But used in the proper context they are “about allowing the donors the opportunity to reflect on who they think they are”.

Warning that many charitable organizations “churn out appeals that talk about how fabulous their organizations are and not about the donor’s part of the story”, Jen Love of Agents of Good notes that a good fundraising appeal is an invitation to help that makes donors feel good about doing just that.

Both Jen and Tom agreed that the most effective channel to reach donors is through good old-fashioned direct mail.

As the Times notes: “Older people, belonging to a generation that still prefers print, are the most generous. A 2013 study on generational giving commissioned by the software company Blackbaud found that those born in 1945 and earlier tend to give an average of $1,367 a year, surpassing millennials, who average $481 a year.

When you read the article and Tom’s appeal to the Sharp HealthCare patients you’ll also discover a technique Jen Love uses to help clients add energy and urgency to their appeals. And how Tom honors his own advice “to celebrate how wonderful the donor is”.

A triple-awarding of Agitator raises for Jen, Jen and Tom for helping the mainstream media understand good fundraising.

Roger

P.S.  Just in case your boss is impressed only by old-fashioned newspaper clippings a version of this article will appear in print on November 6^th, on page F2 of the New York edition of the Times with the headline: “Flattery Will Get You Everywhere.”