Before Spring Fundraising Season, Three Important Things to Think About
Finally! A few days where the temps are above freezing and you can take off those mittens. Let’s all heave a collective sigh of relief. Spring is on its way.
Along with the birds and the brighter days, spring brings with it spring fundraising season. Popping up like daffodils are the walks and runs, the banquets and galas. I know you’re ready for sandals and swimsuits, but are you ready to fundraise?
Chances are, you are involved with a nonprofit in some way. Most of us are.
Maybe you sit on a board. Maybe you do the Walk to End Alzheimer’s every year. Maybe you attend the Nature Conservancy’s Gala or your alma mater’s alumni event. If so, you are often called upon to ask others to support that same cause. Getting enough pledges to bike the Multiple Sclerosis Tour de Farms is empowering, but also challenging.
Asking for money can be a hard thing to do. When you make that call or chat with that friend over lunch, what will you say?
One of the things many people forget when fundraising is to think about who is at the other end of the request. The story of why you are passionate about this cause is important. The story of all the wonderful things this organization does is equally significant. But the other element is the story of the donor.
Telling the same story, in the same way, to your neighbor, your mother and a multimillion-dollar donor won’t be effective. Rather, it’s important to think about who the person is and why they might be compelled to give. Are they a social person who’s always on social media? Can they identify with the struggles of the group you are raising funds for? Are they an executive or an artist? Answers to these questions can help you figure out how to approach different people and can make asking for money that much easier.
Here are three ways of approaching different donors:
1. Who is the Hero?
Individuals who are go-getters and/or have high incomes are likely to see themselves as having a significant amount of agency. They are out in the world getting things done. Appealing to this part of their sense of self can be beneficial when asking for donations.
Angela Y. Lee, a professor of marketing at Kellogg, and her colleague Tonya Williams Bradford, a Kellogg School alum and currently a faculty member at Notre Dame University, studied donors who are motivated by personal goals. An article entitled What Donors Need to Hear to Open the Checkbook discusses their work. It notes that they conducted a study where participants read an appeal for the Make-A-Wish Foundation with a headline that either said, “YOU can be the ONE to make a Difference” or “YOU can be part of the TEAM to make a Difference.”
Although the language is almost the same, the subtle shift made a difference. “Sixty-one percent of those who read about how they, as individuals, could help were likely to donate money compared with only 39 percent of those who read about being part of a team,” the article says.
How can you make your donor a hero? How can you make them the one who is saving the day?
2. Feeling Good Can Do Good
A lot of us give not only because we want to support a cause, but also because it makes us feel good about ourselves when we help someone else out. We feel a little extra boost for doing something good. A study by John A. List from the University of Chicago’s Science and Philanthropy Initiative and reported in Chicago Booth School of Business magazine Capital Ideas, revealed that feeling good may be a central reason people give. The study found that “When organizations offer to double or triple a donor’s gift, that offer produces no advantage over a one-to-one match, suggesting that people are giving more to feel good than to help out the greatest number of people.”
This finding might seem all too “obvious” to you. My question to you is: What are you doing about it?
When you were fundraising, have you made a deliberate point to make your donor feel great about their contribution? As you gear up for more fundraising this year, how can you make them feel special and remind them that they have done a good thing? Fuel the fire of goodwill.
3. The Community Minded
When it comes to asking for support, a sense of belonging to something larger than one self can have a big impact. A study by Booth graduate students found that when potential donors were asked to “help” rather than “give” they showed a greater level of enthusiasm and worked harder for the charity. Moreover, a study by researchers from the University of Wisconsin and Case Western Reserve University found that people will donate more money when there is even the slightest chance their names and pictures will be seen by other people and they will be recognized by their community as having donated.
Have friends who are constantly on social media or who can’t get enough of spending time with others? How can you ask them to support your cause by including them in the community and making them feel a part of it all?
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Our thriving world of non-profits cannot survive without you: The donor, volunteer, fundraiser. Many of you are doing this on top of holding down a full-time job and taking care of your family! To make the most out of your time, what will you say in that phone call to your friend to ask for support? What will you say to your donors at your big gala?
If you need more ideas shaping the stories you will tell, Leadership Story Lab can help you develop the right approach. Also, subscribe to the Leadership Story Lab resources newsletter for quick tips and free events.
(Photos by: Peter Mooney and Brian Jessel BMW)
