Yesterday’s post reporting the Edge Research Study on Reactive Giving reminded me of the importance of having a villain to push against.

A villain serves as a rallying point for like-minded folks/donors to rally against. A villain focuses your message in a way an objective, fair and balanced, approach never can.

In fact, after decades as an advocacy fundraiser for progressive causes I can say without reservation that if an advocacy organization is unwilling to call out a villain then it should just stay home and not bother showing up for the fight.

No issue highlights the ‘good guy’ vs ‘bad guy’ dynamic more than the decades-long battle over gun control.  The pro-control side singles out the NRA and the politicians it controls as villains. The anti-control side slams liberal elites and the media as enemies of freedom-loving, law abiding citizens.

From a fundraising (and political) viewpoint each side’s description of their opponent –their villain—is a classic example of the power and importance of employing donor identity to rally the troops and raise money.

Pro-control groups imbue their supporters with the positive characteristics (“I’m a good person fighting for a logical and sensible solution”) by reinforcing the identity of standing against senseless violence, pressing for safer schools and communities, and standing up against a gun-crazed bully named the NRA.

Thus, villain-focused messages like the following envelope teaser from a battle 30 years ago to win passage of the Brady Bill mandating federal background checks on firearm purchases:

ENCLOSED:  Your best chance to tell the NRA to Go to Hell

Included in that direct mail package was a petition to Congress, the President and an invitation to join Handgun Control, Inc, now the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

For years this simple, clear message stood as proof positive that having a clear-cut villain triggers a strong anti-villain response. Or as Nick puts it: “Having a stronger ‘they’ leads to a stronger ‘we.’

The NRA has worked equally hard at building and reinforcing donor/member identity.  In his case study of how the NRA constructs identityNick observes “[ The NRA ]  didn’t stop at talking about gun owners as patriotic, courageous, and low-abiding. They went one step further, presenting gun owners ‘different from several distinct out-groups, especially politicians, the media and lawyers’ and talking about ‘those anti-gunners,’ described as radicals, elitists and the like.”

Not every nonprofit advocacy group understands the importance of donor identity.  In fact, all too many groups, in the firm belief of the righteousness of their cause, identify their audiences as “everyone.”  Consequently, they timidly tip-toe around their issue afraid to offend any part of their “everyone” audience.

As Texas activist Jim Hightower warns: “There’s nothing in the middle of the road except yellow stripes and dead armadillos.”

Do you know your donors’ identities when it comes to your organization’s key advocacy issues?

Roger