The Little Words Mean the Most

From a certain UK-based guru (the real kind, not the self-ordained)

 

... you are in my thoughts and I wanted you to know there is a real stand-out quote of yours I use everywhere:

“baby boomers are the largest cohort of potential donors ever seen on earth… so DO continue to stereotypically insult them. It makes it so much easier to see which charities are idiots....”

So many charities are STILL treating BBs as idiots, this good, wise, seasoned, long-suffering star-quality-successful guru rummaged on ....

 

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...

 

 

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.

 

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....

They like me, they like me not?

 

Well, story short: this particular United Way in the States gets good results and rejuvenated its recent income USING direct mail ... which can be a modern companion to the traditional United Way financial workhorse: workplace giving.

Another story short: the workplace has changed a LOT since for awhile ... and then there's the pandemic (offices emptied).

So NOW what do community-chest campaigns like the United Way do ... to keep doing good? (Hint: try new things? Outreach in a new way?) Here's a final slide from a PowerPoint show developed by a United Way that's succeeding by applying new ways of raising funds for the common good. I especially (unblushingly) liked the reading list (in great company; some of my many mentors):

 

To a trusted ED of a beloved regional community foundation asking for a speaking date

 

[To him; could have been her; could have been any pronoun....]

 

The best I can say is this: in theory that date works (and thank you for the invitation). It's open on my calendar, in other words.

 

Honestly? I haven't done an in-person presentation since early 2020, March. I was leaving Scotland after a 2.5 day masterclass on the banks of Loch Ness; Simone was at my shoulder, making things SO much easier. We all knew something was odd because the big Chinese delegation had cancelled at the last minute. Suddenly they were forbidden from traveling. Simone and I flew back to the States, on small planes, then bigger planes.

 

Within two weeks the real news hit front pages: global viral deadly pandemic.

 

In the year previous, I'd done 36 presentations, mostly live. Simone was doing the same. Airplanes every 2 weeks for us.

 

In 2020, after we returned from Scotland, I did ZERO in person. Her, too.

 

[To him/her/regional foundation:] I'm not out of practice exactly. Today, for instance, I did a 1.5 hour webinar with a record crowd from 8 countries re: cases for support ... then answered audience questions for another 2.5 hours, alongside a guest expert. So, yeah, I still practice ... just not in person, in breathing distance, since March 2020.

 

Being in front of a live audience is different ... and better!

 

What I hope you'll garner from this wandering confessional: times have changed; I've changed; my dear beloved mainstay Simone died in the meantime; and maybe the rail gauge I run on now, at age 75, isn't what you need.

 

In case this sounds TOO desperate, I have a great, international expert, mid-50s, to recommend: [first name last name], who lives near you. She's a top copywriter; works internationally ... and has at least one current [nearby] as a client. And she's nice. And patient. And SUPER-well-informed (as you can discover for yourself from her blog).

 

Just saying,

 

Just ended one of THOSE phone calls: Look, I know I'm a 3rd-tier author

 

This latest firm's basic promise:

With our PR, we'll boost your book title from an also-ran to a top-seller.

I get these calls from time to time, as one does. I've published more than a half-dozen books of various kinds ... as one does when you can't stop talking.

ALL my books are also-rans. Wander into Barnes & Noble looking for my stuff? You'll be talking to customer service.

My 6-or-so I'm-relatively-proud-of how-to books speak to a limited target audience of front-line fundraisers and NGOs. My uninhibited memoir about my dad has had almost no sales (though it got one stellar review). Earlier fiction attempts by me, the chump, trying to hit in Major-League Baseball? It's a bloopers reel ... at best.

How's your writing career going?

Don't stop.

 

What happens when a new career star equipped with Post-It notes encounters a (hopefully) helpful how-to book

 

 

Thank you, David Stamps....