This is from a cute comic titled "9 Ways to Get People To Do What You Want:"

You can click to see the whole comic. So, what from this list applies to fundraising communications work?

• "Be charming, confident and likeable." Which organization would you rather support, the one who says "with your help, we will solve x problem," or one that says "we might be able to solve x, we'll try..." As for charming and likeable, how about that potato salad kickstarter?
  


• "At the beginning of the conversation, make the person say 'yes.'" A great example of this is petition-signing. She has already proven herself to care about the issue enough to sign the petition; now it's less of a stretch for her to donate to support it.


• "Make the person feel respected and important." Hello, donor-centeredness!
  


• "Push for a feeling, rather than something tangible." We know that most donation decisions are influenced by emotions, not logic.


• "Tap into the person's imagination." You see this a lot in fundraising messaging. "Can you imagine going to school hungry? Jimmy does..." "Imagine, Pawnee's river completely cleaned up by 2016!" Reaching people's imaginations helps make your messaging compelling.


• "Do a big favor for the other person so he or she feels obligated to do something for you." Again, you see this a lot with charities that send out mailing labels, notepads, etc., a practice that is getting increasingly controversial. (Here are more posts about using reciprocity in your communications.)


• "Challenge a person to do something, as opposed to telling them to do something." Does this remind you of the wildly-successful Ice Bucket Challenge campaign?


• "Claim that you have the person's best interests in mind." I've said it before (and I'll say it again, surely): people don't give to your organization, they give through your organization to make a difference. Make it clear that you want the same things. "With your help, we'll preserve the Pawnee Historical Museum, so you and your family can enjoy it for many years to come."

First-time donors aren't donors

A donor isn't really a donor until he or she has donated a second time.

Why?  Because of all the reasons people often initially give:

• supporting a walkathon or similar
• in honor or memory of someone they care about
• sweepstakes
• "go away" money 

But, if she donates a second time, it's because she cares about the work of your organization.  So, how to get (and keep) donors more involved?

Mal Warwick's book How to Write Successful Fundraising Letters (a must-own for any fundraising communications professional) has an entire chapter devoted to creating a welcome package for your new donor, complete with examples.  In sum, keep it warm, keep it personal.  Inform the donor about the work of your organization in order to reassure him that donating was a good call, that his money is going to make a difference.

This post on SOFII features the legendary Tom Ahern.  He shows you, step-by-step, how he wrote a letter specifically aimed at those who gave gifts in memory, in order to convert them to real donors.  It is such a useful read, even if that's not exactly what you're doing.

What has worked for you to keep first-time donors "in the family"?

It's about the wants of your reader

I love Copyblogger, and I especially love thinking of ways to adapt their advice for the nonprofit world.

They discuss the importance of determining if your copy truly contains a benefit to the reader.  The example they use is that "Balance your blood sugar levels naturally!" isn't good copy because no one thinks "Gee, I need to balance my blood sugar levels naturally!"  But what people do want is to avoid the things like blindness, numb limbs, and premature death that go along with diabetes.  Therefore, better copy would focus on how to naturally avoid diabetes and its bad effects.

So how can you apply this to your own work?  Don't ask people to "save the park," ask them to save the place where they relax, kids and dogs get exercise, and neighbors meet and chat.  Don't ask your readers to donate money for food, ask them to donate money to stop folks in need being hungry.

Marketing is like gift giving—too often we give people what we think they should want, or what we want them to want.  To be effective, you have to get inside the head of your reader, figure out what they desire, and then give them that, or appeal to that. 

Pronoun power

In his book How to Write Fundraising Materials That Raise More Money, Tom Ahern encourages fundraisers to take their fundraising communications and circle in red every instance of the word "you," including you'd, you'll, your, you're, yours, yourself, you've.

This is a fantastic and simple idea to ensure your communications are truly donor-centered.  Not only should red circles dot the page all over, there should be at least one "you" in every paragraph, ideally in the first sentence. 

Also remember that the letter should feel like a letter from a friend.  So as much as possible, avoid using "we" to speak for your organization.  Use "me," "my," "I" and the name of the organization when discussing its work.

But remember: it's not about you or your organization; it's about your donor.  Your donor doesn't give to your organization, your donor gives through your organization to affect change that she believes in.

Two important words

Copyblogger isn't nonprofit-focused, but we can still learn a thing or two from there to apply to our world.  This post is about two very important words:

• you

• because
   

Let's start with the word you.  The fundraising community talks a lot about being "donor-centered;" that means making it all about your donors.

So instead of "We removed 600 pounds of trash from the river this year," write "Thanks to your donations, 600 pounds of trash were removed from the river this year."  Use "you" and "your," instead of "we" and "our." 

On to because.  In one chapter of Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive, the study about cutting in line for a copy machine is discussed.

In this study, when a stranger asked someone if he or she could cut in line, 60% of people agreed.  When he/she added, "...because I'm in a rush," the number of cooperators grew to 94%!  So powerful is the word "because" that even when the reason given was "...because I have to make copies," (what a weak reason—of course you're there to make copies) the percentage was still 93%!

You need to explain, clearly, what your organization does (thanks to its fabulous, kind, generous, caring, wonderful donors).  But don't tell, show—make it jump off the page and pull your donors' heartstrings.

Write about your donors, give them a compelling "because," and they will support your cause.

The delicate balance of offering choices

If you have ever had a craving for iced tea, or chips, only to feel like giving up when faced with all the options in the store's cooler or aisle, you will understand this post on Neuromarketing about choices.

That post sprang to my mind when I was reading this article from Fundraising Success with a list of ways to be donor-centric.  Number 4 is "Let donors choose where their money goes."

You may feel hesitant about offering a choice like that to donors, for any reason from concern about a program not getting enough funding, to the added difficulty in financial recordkeeping it can bring.  But read on—according to Fundraising Success, "When you make 'where most needed' an option, most donors choose it."

So where does that leave you, the fundraiser?  You have to judge (or determine through testing) the number of choices to offer that will result in the greatest amount of money raised for your cause.

Does your organization have a lot of programs?  If so, group them into categories.

For example, a social services agency might use:

• Housing
• Healthcare
• Legal aid 
• Where it is most needed

And a community youth organization might offer:

• Arts programs
• Sports activities
• Academic tutoring
• Where it is most needed
  
  

Ideally, these choices should be in line with the branding of your organization and the way you try to summarize your work to the world.

In sum: offer your donors choices.  But not too many!

A gentle reminder about donor-centered messaging

Last year I visited Nicaragua, consulting for La Isla Foundation.  I'm helping them create a plan to increase individual giving, particularly through their communications.  They are a small, relatively new organization that so far has been more focused on their programs helping the La Isla community in Nicaragua than fundraising for those programs.

Their President asked me for help with the message they wanted to send to donors and potential donors.  He said they didn't want to use "The members of this community need a future," because it could seem too demanding.  He told me they didn't want to say "The members of this community deserve a future," because it possibly sounded too entitled.

I told him the message needs to be "Give the members of this community a future."  

"That's it!"  He exclaimed.

His instincts were guiding him away from the wrong phrasing; La Isla Foundation just needed a reminder to keep the messaging donor-centered.  I told him, "It can't be about your organization, or really, much about your clients.  It has to be about the donor and the difference they can make by giving."

Messaging essentials

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you know how much I like clear, concise, simple ways to improve your fundraising communications.  The amazing Katya Andresen has a terrific blog post with 8 things to check before you hit send, go to print, or get up in front of an audience.  Just go read it.

A great end-of-year fundraising letter

Happy New Year, everyone!

As fundraisers, the end of every year is always a busy time (especially if your fiscal year matches the calendar year), and I hope everyone has recovered so we can all make 2012 the best year yet!

I want to share with you a fantastic end-of-year email appeal from the year before last. I have heard non-fundraisers discussing it, saying things like "I don't normally donate, but this email made me want to give," etc. It's from 350.org. It makes terrific use of multiple donate links, spacing, and text bolding, but I'm going to break down in detail what makes it so great.

From: Bill McKibben - 350.org

Subject: We hate doing this.

We can begin with the "From" and "Subject" fields. First of all, it has the name of a human in the From field, you know, like an email from an actual person. Secondly, what a strange, intriguing subject line. Doesn't it just make you want to open it? 

Dear friends,

This email violates all our precepts here at 350.org -- it’s the time of year we do something we hate, which is asking for money.

We hate it for two reasons:

One: many of our supporters are in the poorest parts of the planet and have no money to contribute. Even in rich parts of the world it’s been a tough year. If you don’t have funds to spare, don’t even think about giving.

This acknowledges the tough times that many people are facing in a way that is sensitive, but not a downer. The truth is you don't want to remind people too much about the current economic situation; it has a chance of deterring them from donating.

Two: Far more than we want people giving money, we want people taking action. That’s our first, second, and third priority -- that’s what we ask for 9 times out of 10.

But we’ve had so many people taking so many actions this year that this whole 350 project has grown like crazy. It’s completely great. And it means we need the resources to coordinate it all, to make it more than the sum of its parts.

This portion emphasizes the organization's successes over the year. But if you ask me, it's a subtle reminder that maybe the donor didn't do, physically, as much as he or she could have. The reader might feel a bit bad about that. The reader might want to write a check to ease that feeling of guilt.

So today, we’re asking you to donate to help the movement grow. Click here to chip in whatever you can.

Our crew is small and frugal -- and we’ll make your donations go far. We’ve never had a busier year than 2011: we stopped a massive oil pipeline, ran activist trainings all over the world, had our third giant day of climate action, orchestrated a creative project to take over the airwaves, joined forces with the Occupy movements, and on and on and on.

It truly was a banner year, and our crew has put together an amazing “Top 11 Moments of 2011” recap. Check it out here.

Again, reminding supporters of the work that has been accomplished over the past year, but, more importantly, reassuring the reader that her money makes a difference and the organization's "small and frugal" crew will "make your donations go far."  

Next year is going to be big. We’re going to try and take on the oil and coal and gas companies directly -- strip away their subsidies, and take away their political power. To do it we need not just your activism but, if you can swing it, your financial help. Most of us (me included) are volunteers, and the young people on the staff are paid too little. But they make up for it with big-hearted effort; if we can raise more money we can hire more of them, in every corner of the planet.

This does a nice job of inspiring the reader with hope for what's to come in the following year, and reminds him of the hard work that the staff and volunteers put in. People respond to the hard work and sacrifice of others; this is why 5K runs, 3-day walks, marathons, etc. are successful fundraisers. (I mentioned this before in my post about what the Occupy movement can teach us about fundraising.)

You’ve already helped this year -- helped take the passion and creativity of thousands and channel it into real, tangible progress on our climate trouble. If you can help a little more before year’s end -- well, we will put it to good use. Click here to make a donation.

This year surprised me a lot. I didn’t think I’d spend some of it in jail, and I didn’t truly think we could slow down the Keystone Pipeline. But I’m mighty glad we did -- and I’m ready to be surprised again in 2012.

Informing/reminding that the letter writer went to jail for the cause? Talk about sacrifice and dedication! It inspires this feeling: "If Bill can go to jail, I can write a check, can't I?" Especially because right before it he recognized the supporter: "You've already helped this year."

So many thanks,

Bill McKibben for 350.org

Again, thanks and recognition. And it's a very genuine, very human sign-off. When in doubt, ask yourself: What would a person say? At the end of the day, the letter is from a person, to a person. That connection is what development is all about.