3-Point Reality Check: 3 must-read posts about fundraising
Posted by katya on Tue, July 14, 2009There’s been a trio of excellent reading material the past week. Every single one of these is worth a read, and they may even change your nonprofit marketing and fundraising forever:
Jeff Brooks on the 3 Laws of Fundraising Dynamics. Namely: simplicity, listening and no fundraising-by-committee.
Nicholas Kristof with a double header: First, last week’s piece, “Would you let this girl drown?” reminding us that like it or not, one person’s story is always more powerful than a collective problem. Tell the small story rather than the big statistic.
Then, in “Clean, sexy water,” Kristof highlights Charity: Water, one of the best-marketed causes I know. (Follow-up comments are here.) I followed Scott Harrison’s amazing work for Mercy Ships on this blog way back when and have admired him ever since. If you want to see great story-telling and beautiful transparency, follow Scott’s work. He also reminds us that donors need to know where the money goes - and they need to know it’s not wasted.
The moral of these stories? The basic thing we always forget: audience, audience, audience.
If you want to be better at communicating, have a conversation, not a monologue, with your supporters. Talk with them simply, clearly, transparently and tell a good story. It’s not rocket science, but it will ignite and propel your message like rocket fuel.
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