The Little Words Mean the Most

I have mermaids in my family tree

 

true

 

true

 

sad story, that

 

A team works up a case for Ukranian kids' cancer relief in the midst of war

 

[after praising a great headline...]

 

As I say ad nauseam (to my ears, too), that same headline is missing the most important word in sales: you. Without "you," it's a statement. WITH "you," it gets personal and emotional. Simply extending the headline with a short, next sentence. Or with a deck (subhead).

 

Will you join Veronika's new battle?

Will you tell Putin to get his hands off these cancer kids? [turn Putin into a pedophile as well as a mass-murdering Hitler sans mustache]

Will you [whatever]?

 

To Jeff, a co-conspirator who asked me to write a guest blog post...

 

No need to talk me into. At your service, Jeff. Give me a deadline.

 

+ PS: Whatever I write, feel free to edit. On my personal Mt. Rushmore are those editors who made my crap better.

 

"The D seems off for that context."

 

[He's talking about the ancient AIDA formula in advertising.]

 

Advertising IS different. You hope to drive response; that's ALL that matters. The cash register must RING. That's why you're spending money to make money.

 

In the nonprofit world these days, though, being accused as "transactional" raises eyebrows.

 

Being transactional was the entire point, when I worked commercial: you committed your money, then you got something in return. Give, get.

 

I think nonprofit marketers (i.e., fundraisers) have been bullied into shunning this basic trade-craft. Weak bosses, self-righteous program staffers, ignorant board chairs all play a role.

 

It's one of the oldest delusions in fundraising: entitlement. "We don't have to do shit. You just SHOULD give us your money ... because we ARE that worthy!"

 

------

 

No longer ... for at least 50 years?

 

The reasons WHY someone's heart gives to your charity mission are personal. Not to be trifled with.

 

{deleted: a rant about today's New Puritans}

 

And so ... what's the transaction ... what then do I GET, nonprofit donor ... in exchange? (Because neuroscience says "reciprocity" matters, in human interactions.)

 

Is your best response a glib, AI-derived, soulless thanking me for my online gift?

 

------

 

Back to Jeff: I didn't mean that AIDA was FULLY appropriate.

 

I meant only that a grounding in AIDA changes your thinking. Donor newsletters aren't entirely passive; they can also trigger action. And based on our Zoomer, the newsletter under consideration is apparently NOT triggering action. And until it DOES trigger action, keep experimenting.

 

love cakes and the season for lobster rolls now arrives...

 

 

Oh, crap. I have to pay attention, right?

 

 

Thinking not stinking...

 

 

Had my mind sunk into the North American slave trade and the beloved university that brewed me and generations of the Ivy League on whips and lashes. I benefited. It never occurred to me to protest.

 

 

I hope you'll attend.

 

OK, getting it together. Truly. Trust me. Trust you more than me. (Who are you, again?) Shite, stumble: The most important thing I had to do this coming week was water my new meadow, so Julie Andrews could sing across it. I have 2 gardeners. That's what Sam said: I have a meadow. She established the meadow for Julie Andrews; & Sam is not backing down. I disconnected the hose.

 

Got it, though; from you. Past time for a promo ... will do ...

 

this may require some tending

 

Just TOLD OFF the Romanian Fundraising conference why I am NOT their best choice as a plenary speaker (honestly, I am trying to help them).

 

Patience. We get there????????

 

tom

 

 

 

To Andrew ... who now knows more than I do about donor newsletters ... oh, about that approval committee you're saddled with

 

dear Andrew...

I knew none of this ... not at this level ... not this well quantified [he'd listed 5 criteria for success]. THANK YOU! ¶ We try stuff. Then we get one thing figured out maybe. Then we try something else. As I've said, it takes about 4 quarterly issues to get the mood right. ¶ The first thing we try to kill is internal committee review; but that's before we even sign a contract. A busted, dumb, lazy, "collegial" [universities], top-down ["This doesn't sound like me!"] approval process is the enemy of high-yield donor comms.

 

My witch and I exchange healing stanzas

 

"...determined to save the only life you could save" ... Closing thoughts from a poem by Mary Oliver

 

 

Thought that very same sort of thought today

almost anyway close

 

while hiding from life on the floor in our tub

huddle-hosed by a long hot shower

the closest I am to spa relief

a pilgrim's few feet away

from our once-upon-a-time bed of justice

 

Soaked again and realizing:

I don't have all that much time before

I'm a car on blocks minus tires

 

 

 

To a colleague/friend in Australia engaged in a fundraising campaign

 

This program wanted to engage me to write a case for support. I couldn't at that time. We parted friends. And we just reconnected, many months later. They'd decided to put the case on a back burner for now, as they worked out other important things. This very focused cause is helping to build a new generation of nationally-capable leaders, now in their teens, of aboriginal origins.

 

Dear [you] ...

 

My hunch: You're going to EXPLODE. The time is SO right.

 

BTW: from the world of case writing; at least 30% of the cases I start writing get stalled and never reach the finish line ... for various reasons. A common one? "We thought we were ready. But we weren't yet. Struggling with the case made us realize that."

 

Your case for support will write itself, when you finally need to engage a copywriter.

 

Your mission is SO strong ... and influences what comes next in Australasia: future politics, future economics, a next gen of leaders, addressing past harms, making Australia some kind of beacon for the world. (The US is not that beacon: European settlers went genocidal in 1675 and didn't stop until they reached the Pacific ocean).

 

I've had the amazing gift of being involved with an Indigenous-led museum here in the US over the past couple of years. They shifted my understanding of white privilege completely.

 

As a child, I selfishly thought I was born an underdog, because my family was lower middle-class; in a community of maybe slightly-more-affluent families. Clothing, roof, food on the table, ethics, life lessons -- always; still, never a new car. I didn't see -- couldn't judge -- what I'd been given at birth: I was white in a majority-white nation, in a majority-white town, with a mom who insisted I go to university. We didn't have a new car because there were more important things to buy for the family: like college educations for my sister and me.

 

I didn't realize for decades what a leg up my birth had given me in life ... until recently, schooled (gently) by my Indigenous friends (among many others) ... and by [you].

 

My sincere thanks, [dear you]....

 

Encountering your mission and vision changed me.

 

With deep respect from the other side of this struggling planet,

 

The issue was raised on LinkedIn....

 

Per Ben Miller, SVP of Data Science and Analytics, Bonterra...

Many nonprofits saw a surge of donations and donors during 2020 and 2021. Then in 2022 things started getting back to normal. Normal in this case is a declining donor pool for more than a decade. At the end of 2022 donors were 83% of what they were at the end of 2012.

Leading the charge, new donors have declined precipitously -18%. Plus it is more costly to get new donors.

His comments elicited a strong response from fundraisers internationally. My small contribution to the mob:

Like many of you in the FEP [Fundraising Effectiveness Project] family, I can speak from different perspectives: practitioner trying to raise money, new donor, monthly donor, major donor. And I now wonder if the 10% "decline" in US donors is something similar to climate change. >> I.e., physics; natural forces normally readjusting, in other words. ¶ I'm rushing off to lunch, so I can't check my data immediately. But it's my understanding that the # of nonprofits in the US alone has something like doubled in the past 15-20 years. ¶ Then you have John Lepp's recent anecdotal reporting on how slammed his mother-in-law's mailbox is every year ... more than 500 items coming in and ONLY one was a thank you to generous Dale. ¶ What is the sum of the research done by Dr.s Jen Shang and Adrian Sargeant at their Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy? In my non-academic interpretation: "When you like your donors, they'll like you back. And they'll express that through more giving and by sticking around." ¶ THE COMPLETE DONOR.... Interesting idea, Benjamin Mohler and Andrew Polter.

love bunnies...

 

Hey, I just deleted two adverbs! Time to party....

Came the bouquet

Doorbell rang....

This arrived, courtesy of Sim TWO. Why? Because I was having an "in the dumps day-before phone call" ... and Sim TWO was trying to perk me up ... which she did, shockingly!

Sim ONE was OUR (highly) original Simone. Simone Joyaux. Kind, generous, accepting, mind-opening teacher of thousands ... including many she didn't agree with politically.

Sim TWO was her beloved student at St. Mary's Uni. in Minnesota.

Sims ONE and TWO bonded over SO many things: especially social justice.