Answer?  Gratitude.

What if your annual report were a Gratitude Report?  What if you told stories about what your supporters did rather than trumpeting what you did?

It might look like this.  This is a real masterpiece of gratitude.  And it inspires generosity.

How do you tap your inner generous spirit?  Here’s your checklist.

1. Give away:  Give away everything you can and it will pay off.  For example, at Network for Good, we give away free training, free newsletters and free fundraising and marketing tips.  Our sales and customer service staff give generously of their time, never rushing someone off the phone.  This makes quite a few people love us – and they go on to buy, recommend or evangelize our paid services.  Which pays off in the long run.  If we tried to nickel and dime nonprofits, they would not feel the same way and we’d have fewer funds in the long run.  Keep this approach in mind if you’re a membership or services organization.

2. Give thanks.  Spend a lot more time thanking donors and reporting on their impact than asking them for more money.  Make them feel treasured rather than going after their treasures.  I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the number one reason donors quit supporting an organization is how they were treated by the organization.  They hate too many appeals, not enough thanks and a lack of information on impact.

3. Give credit.  It’s not enough to be grateful.  Give your donors the credit for everything you do.  Don’t say, “with your donation, we did xyz;” say, “you did xyz.”  Don’t say “we’re so great,” say “you’re so great.”  Tell your donors they are doing good works every day of the week through their support of you.  This turns donors into owners of your mission, and you can’t get more powerful than that.  Pride Foundation - great job in showing how this is done.

In case you missed it, here are my top six trends in the donor-fundraiser relationship, which I presented today.

Nancy Schwartz has lots of advice for you: Get the 2009 Top Tagline report here.

The updated guide shows nonprofits top tagline approaches for stronger messaging, and features a directory of over 2,500 nonprofit tagline examples for organizations to use in creating strong messages. The 2009 Report provides everything an organization needs to jump start its tagline development process:

·      Why a Nonprofit’s Name Isn’t Enough

·      How a Strong Tagline Benefits Your Organization – Useful for developing support among colleagues and leadership

·      The 10 Have-Tos for Successful Taglines

·      Using Words that Work

·      The 7 Deadly Sins, 9 Snores and 5 Best Ways to Antagonize Your Audience – What not to do

·      Research, Create, Revise, Test, Repeat – The right steps to take to craft a potent tagline.

Find out in my free training next week.  And check out all the free teleconferences at Network for Good in the coming weeks!  We’d love to have you join us.

Date	Training	Registration
Thursday, November 12 at 1 p.m. Eastern	Fundraising with an Affinity Card Program
Tuesday, November 17 at 1 p.m. Eastern	Fundraiser’s Confidential: How to Adapt to the 6 Trends Changing the Fundraiser-Donor Relationship Forever
Tuesday, December 8 at 1 p.m. Eastern	Is Your Story Big Enough? Uncover the emotional spark that turns current and potential supporters into true believers.
Tuesday, December 15 at 1 p.m. Eastern	Building a Dynamic Grantseeking Calendar for 2010

 

The more I Tweet and post on Facebook and blog, the more I am struggling to have time to really LISTEN to people.  I don’t want to follow and friend more people than I can sincerely engage with, but perhaps that makes me seem like a diva.  This is a condundrum many of us face.  All I know is this - I want to err on the side of engagement that is authentic.  I want to truly be on the other side of the conversation, at least some of the time.  But it is not easy.

At the same time, it has never been so important.  In this noisy world, we are pleasantly stunned when someone devotes their full attention to us.  Imagine if you did that for the people you want to reach. Imagine what might change.

Bad things happen when we stop paying attention to the people around us.  We lose them.  Our relationships suffer.  Social injustices occur – just ask a homeless person how invisible she feels.  Our supporters abandon us.  Our customers hate us.  (Our customers really hate us – look no further than untied.com, a website devoted to people frustrated their complaints are not heard by United Airlines.)

Extraordinary things happen when we recognize people – when we truly hear, see and acknowledge them.  Listening – just listening, simple as it is – creates great relationships, strong societies, powerful organizations and profitable, popular businesses. 

I have to have more time to do it. 

How do you make the time?

There is a fascinating discussion going on over at Sean’s Tactical Philanthropy blog about ideas in the book The Art of Giving: Where the Soul Meets a Business Plan by Charles Bronfman and Jeffrey Solomon.  Yesterday’s post asks us to think about why we give money.  Today’s post features a book excerpt.  I’ve also been having an interesting discussion on these topics with Eric Foley and plan to blog on that with him in the coming days.

This is a fascinating topic - and one I’ve been contemplating a long time. 

I think I (and almost everyone else) give for two reasons: personal and social ROI (a great semantic framing I got from Eric Foley). You give for 1.) how it makes you feel about something you care about or some other form of personal benefit, and 2.) you give to make a difference. It might be to make a difference in an empirical way with respect to an organization OR to make a difference in a social relationship (like when a friend asks you to support her cause). Almost everything comes back to these two things.  Really.

A while back (3 years ago!), I blogged my own list – FYI here it is. I don’t think it’s changed much.

Reasons I give:

a. Someone I know asked me to give

b. I felt emotionally moved by someone’s story

c. I want to feel I’m not powerless in the face of need and can help (this is especially true during disasters)

d. I want to feel I’m changing someone’s life

e. I feel a sense of closeness to a community or group

f. I need a tax deduction

g. I want to memorialize someone (who is struggling or died of a disease, for example)

h. I was raised to give to charity – it’s tradition in my family

i. I want to be “hip” and supporting this charity (ie, wearing a yellow wrist band) is in style

j. It makes me feel connected to other people and builds my social network

k. I want to have a good image for myself/my company

l. I want to leave a legacy that perpetuates me, my ideals or my cause

m. I feel fortunate (or guilty) and want to give something back to others

n. I give for religious reasons – God wants me to share my affluence

o. I want to be seen as a leader/role model

I can’t tell from today’s book excerpt where the writers of this new book are going, but it seems they are urging us to focus on the #2 - the making a difference part of giving - in a more dispassionate way.  I think most donors want to know their gifts have impact but unless they are a high net worth individual or an outlier like giving circle member, the amount of effort the average donor will expend on determining their impact and using it to shape their giving patterns is going to be minimal.  Heck, we don’t even spend that kind of time on management of our 401k.  So the key is going to be easy, apples-to-apples measurement of nonprofit effectiveness.  Like 3 stars.  And that is really hard to accomplish.  In short, if we’re being urged to think in business terms, we have a supply problem (no great, consistent, comparable data from nonprofits, though GreatNonprofits, Charity Navigator and others are trying to get us there) and we have a demand problem (not that many donors are going to spend a lot of time and energy analyzing their impact - they want simple answers).  That’s going to make this kind of change very slow.

But that kind of change has to happen to some degree.  Donors want a feeling they ARE having SOME KIND of impact, and they want SOME feeling of involvement in the cause they are supporting.  We have to do better to meet those needs. Of that much, I’m sure.  Because if we feel our money is wasted, we lose on both forms of ROI - personal AND social.

We just had a happy moment at my job.  In a sign of the steady growth in online giving, even amid the recent recession, Network for Good has now processed over $300 million in online donations to more than 50,000 charities since we got started.  This year, we’ve distributed money to 60% more charities than last year.  The average Network for Good nonprofit is raising the same dollar amounts as in 2008, through more, smaller gifts.  To illustrate, the total number of donations through Network for Good is up 92% year to date, but the dollar value of those donations is up 43% compared to last year.

That is good news.

My colleague Kate Olsen has observed the following trends:

•The economy is fragile, but giving online is going strong.  Network for Good is seeing double the number of donations this year, just at lower dollar amounts than in years past.  The growth in online giving is particularly encouraging in comparison to offline giving trends.

•Recurring gifts are a lifeline to nonprofits during a recession.  A steady number of donors are setting up automatic monthly, quarterly or annual gifts that provide dependable and compounding cash flow for recipient organizations.  At Network for Good, 1 in 5 gifts is a recurring donation this year, which is comparable to last year. 

•More people are giving the gift of charity to others. Year-to-date sales of Network for Good’s charity gift card (The Good Card) are up 60%, as more individuals and companies choose to say Thank You, Congratulations, and Happy Holidays with the gift of charity.  Repeat after me: No more ties!  No more scarves!

•A rise in grassroots and peer-to-peer fundraising is driving more donation activity online.  For any given charity, the most significant source of donations is its own website, but Network for Good is seeing ten-fold growth this year to date in donations made through social networking sites like Causes on Facebook, Change.org and others. 

•Corporations increasingly insert philanthropy into their marketing and rewards programs.  Corporate giving programs like the Capital One “No Hassle” Giving Site make it easy use your card to give to any charity on your card or to donate rewards (with no fees taken out).  You’re also going to see more and more so-called embedded giving, which inserts a charitable donation into a commercial transaction.  This can be a mixed bag for the sector, as Lucy points out, but it is not going away.

The even better news is the best is yet to come - annually, about 40% of giving occurs in December alone. 

So why is all this happening?  Is this trend just cannibalized offline gifts?

Not really.  Steve from Blackbaud gave a great review of his data today via NTEN, and it tells a story that is consistent with what we’re seeing.  Namely, online giving is growing fast (even though it’s still only 5% of overall giving), it brings in younger, wealthier and higher-dollar givers, and it’s a top source of new donors.  So you can’t really choose to ignore it.  But you also shouldn’t choose to ignore other forms of fundraising.  Online donors often give offline after giving online.  That raises an interesting issue - we talk a lot about online donors renewing at lower rates and switching to offline giving - while offline givers don’t typically switch to online.  I’m not sure how much of this is the donors and how much of it is how and where we cultivate them.  I think it’s a mixture of both - which is what Steve said today as well.

1. You’re nuts if you’re not doing online fundraising, especially this December when online giving will peak for the year.

2. You need to remember online donors are more loyal when they are cultivated through many channels - online and off.  So be expansive when thinking about how to build a relationship with them in the New Year.

Here are some posts you should be reading. Transparency is a hot topic - the new black, really - so what does this mean?  How much is the right amount?  For whom?  What are the ups and downs of demand for tranparency, which is here to stay.

Read:

Lucy Bernholz on transparency’s ups and downs.

Allison Fine’s reflections on tranparency (be sure to read Lessig’s comment)

David Roodman’s thoughts on Kiva in recent weeks amid this tranparency debate

About.com’s social media guru Joanne Fritz has a must-read Non-Profit Blog Carnival here.  Get 8 posts with great fundraising tips (and a link to my post earlier this week, that makes 9!) in a year when we could all use them.  As Joanne points us, CNN just said fundraiser is a stressful job that pays badly.  Fundraisers, unite!  We can do this.

As Cause Marketing blog has pointed out, October means breast cancer awareness month - which also means saturation of cause-related marketing messages.  Unless you understand how to stand out - by storytelling.

This is a photo I took in Silver Spring, Maryland, at the Ulta beauty store.  The window stopped me in my tracks - what was in the window, I wondered?  There I saw letters from breast cancer survivors, their friends and family.  There is something very moving about reading someone’s personal letters.  This was a great way to call attention to the cause - and the company - in an authentic, moving way.  What better way to show you support the breast cancer cause than to put the spotlight on those dealing with it?

ULTA has over 330 stores nationwide participating, according to their corporate website.  People are asked to write their stories of honor and encouragement in a letter and bring it to their local ULTA store where it will be posted in the windows. According the company, “Placed end to end, all of ULTA’s windows stretch over six miles, each of which will be devoted to sharing the stories of those that have fought, are bravely fighting or have been personally affected by breast cancer in some way.”

Use this concept!  If your nonprofit is on a busy street, how about posting letters and photos from people affected by your cause in the window?  How about having your next e-Newsletter written in the form of a letter from someone affected firsthand by your issue?  What if volunteers wrote hand-written thank you letters to your supporters explaining why they love your cause?

The power of one voice telling a good story is more potent than your organizational voice any day,

As Cause Marketing blog has pointed out, October means breast cancer awareness month - which also means saturation of cause-related marketing messages.  Unless you understand how to stand out - by storytelling.

This is a photo I took in Silver Spring, Maryland, at the Ulta beauty store.  The window stopped me in my tracks - what was in the window, I wondered?  There I saw letters from breast cancer survivors, their friends and family.  There is something very moving about reading someone’s personal letters.  This was a great way to call attention to the cause - and the company - in an authentic, moving way.  What better way to show you support the breast cancer cause than to put the spotlight on those dealing with it?

ULTA has over 330 stores nationwide participating, according to their corporate website.  People are asked to write their stories of honor and encouragement in a letter and bring it to their local ULTA store where it will be posted in the windows. According the company, “Placed end to end, all of ULTA’s windows stretch over six miles, each of which will be devoted to sharing the stories of those that have fought, are bravely fighting or have been personally affected by breast cancer in some way.”

Use this concept!  If your nonprofit is on a busy street, how about posting letters and photos from people affected by your cause in the window?  How about having your next e-Newsletter written in the form of a letter from someone affected firsthand by your issue?  What if volunteers wrote hand-written thank you letters to your supporters explaining why they love your cause?

The power of one voice telling a good story is more potent than your organizational voice any day,

Update: Do read Cause Marketing’s suggestions on how to tweak this campaign.  I still like it more than Paul did - but yes, pictures and a stronger call to action couldn’t hurt.  I think the storytelling was terrific.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy today said the nation’s biggest charities are forecasting a 9 percent decline in giving this year - the biggest drop since the publication started tracking private donations in the early 90s.  In an interview with the radio program Marketplace, publisher Stacy Palmer said it’s affecting how nonprofits ask for money:

One of the things most nonprofits are very aware of is that some people don’t have jobs and they can’t appeal to them, so they’re focusing on the people who are affluent still and who still have money to give. They’re very careful to not make a pitch to somebody who can’t afford to give.

I’m not sure that’s the case for most nonprofits - or if it is, it applies only to major donors, which is one circumstance in which a nonprofit may have intimate knowledge of a donor’s circumstances.  Most nonprofits are unlikely to know who among their supporters has a job. 

In fact, the Chronicle on its website suggests as much (registration required to view article).  Apparently most of fundraising is as aggressive as ever:

The push to be more aggressive in seeking donations continues. The biggest charities are stepping up their efforts to solicit individuals, trying to explain more clearly why they need money, focusing on donors who have stopped giving, experimenting with new methods of online fund raising, and putting more time and effort into securing planned gifts.  Charities are also reorganizing their fund-raising departments, sometimes because they have been forced to lay off employees. They are encouraging fund raisers to share responsibilities and work more closely with people in different departments.

Here’s my take: you cannot possibly know the economic circumstances of all your individual donors - though hopefully you’re aware of the status of your biggest donors.  And you can’t stop asking for money entirely.  So what are you supposed to do?  Ask, but with four things in mind:

1. Empathy is appropriate.  Acknowledge times are hard - for everyone - right now.  If a donor can’t give, they’ll appreciate you understand this.

2. Show you are tightening your belt.  Describe every step your organization has taken to tighten your belt and operate as efficiently as possible this year.

3. Demonstrate that all donations count.  Because you’re stretching every dollar, make the point that every donation helps more than ever this year - whatever the size of the donation.

4. Show impact.  Thank your donors profusely for their past help and explain in tangible, vivid terms how their donations have made a big difference.  And then do it again and again and again.  Donors usually don’t stop giving because they don’t have money.  They usually stop giving because of a surfeit of appeals and a shortage of thanks.  Show donors that they are making good things happen - and give them credit for every piece of good news you have about your programs.

A last point: if you have to reorganize your fundraising department or merge departments because of downsizing - something the Chronicle suggests is prevalent - look at this as an opportunity.  It’s a chance to show you’re focused on efficiency and it’s also a great way to get rid of siloes where they should not have existed (ie, between marketing and development).  Tough times can hold good lessons.  Let them make you a better fundraiser.

SuzyQuzy, Flickr

Photo from today of me with my hosts at the Beautiful Foundation

I’m in Seoul, where I was fortunate enough to present to 300 nonprofits at a fundraising conference organized by the Seoul-based Beautiful Foundation.  The Beautiful Foundation, which bears the slogan, Beyonnd Charity Toward Change, is a nine-year-old public interest foundation here that grants $7 million annually.  Its flagship giving campaign, 1% Sharing, is well known to South Koreans and has inspired a growing philanthropic sector.  It urges people to give 1% of their money, time or talent to a good cause.  The foundation staff say their name comes from a Dorothy Parker quote: “To a charitable organization, money was sent with good will.  What is beautiful is not the words, but the will.”  (Personally, as a fundraiser, I like the Dorothy Parker quote, “The two most beautiful words in the English language are ‘cheque enclosed.’”).

Giving in Korea is beginning to take off as the country enjoys prosperity.  Two-thirds of South Koreans give money and a quarter volunteer, and the amount donated is increasing annually.

I wanted to highlight some of the foundation’s great fundraising work, which seeks to build on these trends.  Their Lego-like building block project had people collect coins in building blocks, which were then put together in the city to showcase charitable giving.  You can see some of the blocks behind us in our photo above.  And there is a great write-up of the project here.

Supporters bought colourful Lego block banks to collect their donations. These were purchased online or in bulk and given to business employees or school students. A leaflet explaining how people could take part was distributed with each block bank. The leaflet also had stories from various supporters who came from all walks of life. Over the event period, supporters collected their monies in the block bank; on 6 December 2008 they brought their block banks to a central location in Seoul to join in a group Lego-building activity. Those who lived outside the capital were able to send their block banks before this activity.

This year, they are creating a project that involves real leaves imprinted with the slogan that has a double meaning of roughly, “Hope does not fall,” and “hope can’t be defeated.”  Here are two leaves they left with me.

What they have done so well, particularly with the Lego project, is not only inspiring giving but making it participatory and visible.  This is so important in creating a sense that giving is growing and establishing a new social norm.  It is a great model for all of us to follow.

What can you do to make the act of giving more engaging? 

Hi from Korea, where I just presented at a conference of 300 Korean nonprofits.  More on Seoul and the Korean nonprofit sector later, but first I want to share the top nonprofit taglines according to Nancy Schwartz of Getting Attention, who sponsors an annual contest.  She believes a nonprofit’s tagline is “hands down the briefest, easiest and most effective way to communicate its identity and impact.” 

And the winners this year, as described by Nancy, are:

Arts & Culture:  Big Sky. Big Land. Big History.—Montana Historical Society

The Montana Historical Society takes its state’s most elemental and distinctive characteristics (Big Sky, Big Land) and deftly melds them with its mission in a way that generates excitement. The result is a tagline with punch and focus. And a big hit with voters.

Associations:  Building community deep in the hearts of Texans —TexasNonprofits

TexasNonprofits’ tagline tweaks the title of an iconic American popular song from the 1940s and brilliantly connects it to the spirit, passion and mission of the state’s citizenry. A great example of how word play works in a tagline.

Civic Benefit:  Holding Power Accountable —Common Cause

Common Cause’s tagline leaves no doubt about the organization’s mission, unique value and commitment. It’s definitive, with a powerful economy of words. An excellent example of the tagline clarifying the nonprofit’s focus, when the organization’s name alone doesn’t do so.

Education:  A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste®—UNCF -The United Negro College Fund

This 38-year-old tagline from UNCF still rings strong. It elegantly delivers its straight up, powerful message. When your tagline is the boiled-down essence of your argument for support, you’ve achieved tagline bliss. That’s why this one is a classic.

Environment & Animals:  Because the earth needs a good lawyer —Earthjustice

Earthjustice capitalizes on what people do understand—that a lawyer protects rights - and uses that framework to dramatically position its role and impact in the environmental movement. And it does so with humor. If your tagline makes people smile or light up, without stepping on your message, then you’ve made an emotional connection…Bravo.

Grantmaking:  If you want to be remembered, do something memorable.—The Cleveland Foundation

It’s a rare tagline that manages to recruit people to its cause both unabashedly and effectively. That’s exactly what The Cleveland Foundation pulls off here. Clear, concise, and…memorable! A model for any organization promoting philanthropy. 

Health & Sciences:  Finding a cure now…so our daughters won’t have to.©—PA Breast Cancer Coalition

The PA Breast Cancer Coalition’s tagline is both emphatic and poignant. It strikes a deep emotional chord, and conveys the focus and impact of its work without being overly sentimental. “Finding a cure,” a highly used phrase for health organizations, is bolstered here by the appeal to solve a problem now so future generations won’t suffer from it.

Human Services:  Filling pantries. Filling lives.—Houston Food Bank

With simple but effective use of word repetition, the Houston Food Bank clarifies its work and impact. It delivers on two distinct levels—the literal act of putting food on people’s shelves and the emotional payoff to donors and volunteers. An excellent example of a mission-driven tagline.
 
International, Foreign Affairs & National Security:  Send a Net. Save a Life.—Nothing But Nets

Short, punchy and laser-sharp, the Nothing But Nets tagline connects the action with the outcome. It’s inspirational in the simplicity of its message and its reason for existing. The kind of tagline nonprofits should model.

Jobs & Workforce Development and overall winner:  Nothing Stops A Bullet Like A Job —Homeboy Industries

Homeboy Industries’ tagline is a mini-masterpiece, telling a memorable story in just six words. It stops you in your tracks, makes you want to learn more and sticks with you afterward. That’s the kind of potent nonprofit messaging every organization desires.

Media:  Telling stories that make a difference —Barefoot Workshops

If your organization’s name is vague, it’s critical that your tagline be distinct. Barefoot Workshops’ tagline sums up the transformative power of stories to create change in people and their communities, so clarifying the organization’s focus. Saved by the tagline! 

Religion & Spiritual Development:  Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors.—The people of The United Methodist Church

The work of religious organizations often operates on several planes at once—a challenge for any organization and its messaging. Here, The United Methodist Church delivers a tagline trinity that supports its applied faith mission and is warm, enthusiastic and embracing.

Other:  A head for business. A heart for the world.—SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise)

If an organization’s identity contains within in it a distinct contrast between its key characteristics, that’s often good tagline material. Here, SIFE surprises with its crystal-clear tagline that conveys not only what’s unique about it but also capitalizes on the contrast between profit and compassion

For more on nonprofit taglines, check out Nancy’s blog.

A good one!  If there is one thing nonprofits need to do more, it is telling stories.  Storytelling should be the way we communicate our mission, win support and show impact.  Storytelling is how we learned 70% of what we know in this world.  Yet most written materials, websites, appeals, grant proposals and presentations are devoid of good stories.  We need to fix this.

If you’re seeking some guidance on why storytelling matters and some inspiration for crafting great stories, a good starting point is a new book by Michael Margolis, “Believe Me: Why Your Vision, Brand and Leadership Need a Bigger Story.”  This short yet valuable manifesto describes why we personally seek stories - and how that need translates into a broader mandate for story as the key tool to organizational vision and change.  The book is not a how-to guide but rather meant as a call to action.  Margolis is trying to get us to change how we communicate rather than telling us how to do it.  He intersperses his book with quotes that eloquently make his points:

The ability to see our lives as stories rather than unrelated, random events increases the possibility for significant and purposeful action”—Daniel Taylor, Author of Tell Me a Story.

If you’re looking for this kind of inspiration, you can get a free sample of the book here.  If you choose to buy it on that site, use the code 7Z8WDVU3 and you’ll get 15% off.  (Thanks, Michael!)

If that’s not enough to get you thinking of your stories, remember what Maya Angelou said:

There is no greater burden than carrying an untold story.

As a nonprofit marketing person, I often talk to nonprofit groups about their “audience,” but it’s a bad word.  An audience brings to mind a group of people quietly listening while you deliver a message.  And in this day and age, there is no such thing as a passive group of people content to simply listen.  Everyone from your funders to your donors to your volunteers to your constituents expects participation.  They want to talk.  They want to act.  And they want you to listen and enable.

Today, I want to highlight three examples of great nonprofit marketing and fundraising that do just that.

1. Join My Village from CARE and General Mills.  Visitors have the opportunity to ‘join’ one of ten real Malawi villages on the site and track its progress.

2. A Billion Views Helps a Billion from WFP and YouTube, which takes something people love to do (watch videos) and allows them to turn their actions into a collective force for change.

3. The Escuela del Sol website, which is about what the school does for its kids more than anything else.  Nice job making it about the community rather than the institution!

4. Find Your Mission, which is all about what the donor can do rather what organizations do.

This is my new column in Fundraising Success.

The human mind is like one of those kitchen gadgets featured in late-night infomercials. It beats, twists, separates, slices, dices and otherwise transforms everything that enters it. You gave someone a carrot, but before you know it, she’s turned it into a bouquet of julienned strips.

In other words, what you think you’re communicating often bears little resemblance to what someone hears and thinks. Your ideology is no match for your audience’s own mental machinations.

So what’s a fundraiser to do? The solution is to understand how your audience’s minds work — and adjust your communications accordingly. You have a better chance of success with this approach than you ever have in trying to get your audience to see the world — and your message — as you do.

Small, not big

People understand the world on a personal scale. They can relate to a hungry person more easily than they can relate to hunger on a global level. They’re more motivated to act by one man’s struggle with homelessness than they are by the fact that an estimated 100 million people worldwide are homeless. People focus on what they can grasp. The bigger the scale of what you’re communicating, the smaller the impact on your audience.

What does this mean to you? If you write something like, “Malnutrition, in the form of iodine deficiency, is the most common cause of mental impairment, reducing the world’s IQ by an estimated billion points,” people might think something like, “Wow, that’s depressing. Life stinks for a lot of people. I’m going to go watch Jon Stewart to cheer up.”

People aren’t bad for thinking this. They’re just human. If you want to communicate with them on the scale they comprehend — a human scale — then take the big issue your organization addresses and communicate it through stories about one person, one whale, one tree.

Hopeful, not hopeless

One reason for thinking small is that people tend to act on what they believe they can change. If your problem seems intractable, enormous and endless, people won’t be motivated to help. They want to know there is something — anything — that they can fix by giving you money. If you want to raise money, give them a reason to feel hopeful about the impact of their gifts rather than hopeless about the overall prospects for change.

I recently saw some ads about global warming that showed the earth as a melting ice cream cone. This is probably what the environmental organization thought it was communicating: Global warming is real, and we must urgently address it. Give to our organization now.

This is what I was thinking: We’re doomed. Oh well.

I found the ad profoundly depressing and demoralizing. How can one donation stop the end of the planet? It won’t. So I didn’t give. Environmentalists need to give me an aspect of the problem that I can comprehend in scope and feel empowered to change.

True, not false

Many fundraisers are up against misconceptions about their issues. So they spend time debunking the myths. You’ve seen those myth vs. fact sheets, I’m sure. Here’s the problem: The more you talk about the myth, the more airtime it gets and the more people remember it. And unfortunately, it might be all they remember. There’s plenty of research showing the myth vs. fact approach helps perpetuate the myth.

Imagine you’re an advocacy organization trying to convince Americans a health care reform proposal does not ration care. This is important to raising money for your efforts. You might say:

Myth: Health care reform means rationed care.

Fact: No proposals would prevent people from getting the care they need from their doctors.

And here’s what people will think: Wait, what did you say about rationed care?! My care could be rationed?!

Stick to the truths; don’t repeat the myths.

And in conclusion, I’ll add, stick to these principles, not your talking points. You know you’re in trouble if you ever find yourself thinking of your audience: “If they only knew … ” or “If they just understood … ”  They don’t know and they don’t understand the world the way you do. So communicate small, hopefully and with the truth. You might end up having what we all want with our donors: a meeting of the minds.

1. Trainings from the Society for Nonprofit Organizations - not free but worth it.  Get strategies on assessing 2009 and jump starting 2010:

Kim Klein (Fundraising, Oct 7):  This one is over but you can get the recording.  Kim is the BEST.
Hannah Brazee Gregory (Communications/PR, Oct 28)
Katya Andresen (Marketing, Nov 18 and yes this is self-promotion)
Susan Ellis (Volunteers, Dec 2)

2. My podcast with the Charlotte American Marketing Association about my book and nonprofit marketing.  This is free.

3. Games that Give, a site where your supporters (hopefully not your staff) can play games like Solitaire and earn donations for your charity.  These are free but not a recommended fall fundraising strategy for you personally!  Now go back to work:)

Just a few minutes ago, the Case Foundation, Causes and PARADE kicked off the 2009 America’s Giving Challenge, a 30-day, national online competition that enables people to leverage their online and offline personal networks to build communities (“causes”) that raise money and recruit support for a nonprofit.  These causes will compete to win cash awards, funded by the Case Foundation, that will total $170,000.  There will be daily and overall awards for the top fundraisers.  America’s Giving Challenge will be hosted by Causes through its application on Facebook. In addition, PARADE Publications will help launch the Challenge with cover story about the importance of giving by actor Matt Damon.

As a partner of the Case Foundation and Causes, Network for Good (where I work) is the processing donations for the challenge.

So I’m biased.  But I like these challenges, and I’ll tell you why.  In my experience with last year’s challenge and similar efforts at our site Six Degrees, I find they are worth your time because they provide:

1. A good reason to experiment with social networking.  It’s easier to sell an online experiment internally when there are matching grants and exposure at stake. If you’ve been encountering internal resistance to social networking, this may be something that gets naysayers more interested.

2. Something measurable.  By nature this kind of campaign is well-defined in scope with clear goals and measures of success.  Those all happen to be key components of strong online initiatives. 
 
3. A way to harness the power of your supporters.  Your biggest fans will enjoy a new way to champion your cause - spreading the word on social networks so you can win matching grants.  Put your message in the hands of your best messengers - the people who love your cause and quite naturally enjoy recruiting others to it.

4. A strong reason to give.  I always say you need to answer four questions to get people to give money: why me? what for? why now? and who says?  This kind of campaign answers all four well.  You are proving relevance (why me) by putting your appeal in the hands of champions spreading the word among friends and family on Facebook.  You’re answering what for and why now with the matching gift—donors dollars can go further if enough people give.  This kind of campaign provides a great sense of urgency.  And most powerfully, it answers who says—by asking your supporters to ask their friends for help, you gain powerful and persuasive third-party endorsement.

So consider doing it - especially if you have staff, volunteers or supporters who are wildly enthusiastic about this kind of thing, which does take energy.  From now until November 6 at 3:00 p.m. EST, participants will have the opportunity to compete for daily and overall awards – ranging from $500 to $50,000 – based on the number of donations to their cause using the Causes application on Facebook. Nonprofit organizations and individuals who wish to participate in the Challenge can get involved in one of two ways:

1. Champion a cause – Individuals can become “cause champions,” individuals who are passionate about a specific cause and will compete to obtain the most donations for their cause through the Causes application on Facebook.

2. Promote, donate or join a cause – all individuals are encouraged to take part in America’s Giving Challenge by joining, promoting and donating to the causes they care about. Facebook membership is not required to donate to a Giving Challenge cause.

If you do give it a try, here are some tips:

1. The more personal the messaging, the better. 

2. Donate yourself.  It’s not inspiring to see zero donations on a cause when you’re asking others to give.

3. Post links everywhere - on your site, blog, email signature, etc.

4. Send a link to alll the people you know on Facebook and in your email address book.

5. Ask others with a following to help.  Go to technorati.com and search for blogs that are focused on your issue. Tell bloggers about your campaign and ask them to post on your efforts. They have a circle of active readers who are likely to care about your cause.  Talk to Facebook groups that support your cause.  Keep widening your circle of influence by co-opting those with their own followings.

6. UPDATE: Don’t forget to focus on the people, not the money.  It’s about relationships at the end of the day.  More on this from Joe at Causes.

More tips and training are here.

Finally, here is some parting inspiration from last year’s winner - who proves offline tactics help, too:

“Winning America’s Giving Challenge [2008] has energized the staff, the board, and thousands of members and friends of Engineers Without Borders – USA.  The Giving Challenge inspired so many people to give - from the student members who handed out flyers in their college towns telling people how to make a donation online to the board members and staff who e-blasted their entire address books -  all in just 9 days from when we first read about the Challenge in Parade Magazine.”

-Heidi Dormody, Director of Development for EWB-USA, which raised $67,867 from 2,979 unique donors.

Good luck!

If impact is the new black, some are apparently wearing it well.  From Lucy Bernholz, here is the new Future Matters report - Equity Advancing Equity: Community Philanthropy, Social Equity and Mission Investing . The report focuses on how community philanthropies are using “mission investing” to address fundamental inequities in their communities. The report covers successes, offers help on incorporating these strategies, and provides sample measures of impact. Happy reading!