Mailbag: How do you make a case for your cause if you’re a “middleman?”
- Sat, May 21 2011
- Filed under: Marketing essentials
Today, I’m answering more reader email.
Katya,
I would love to hear your thoughts on how to tell a story about a somewhat ambiguous cause – fatherhood - and our work with organizations running fatherhood programs (non-direct services.) We have done loads of research about the effects of father absence, but numbers and research clearly don’t move the donor audience.
Since we do not have the luxury of direct contact with the recipients of our programs through those community organizations to tell their stories, it has been quite challenging to get our donors rallied around the cause and the great work we’re doing with organizations all over the US.
Melissa
Hi Melissa,
You face what many causes do: You make it possible for others to make an important change. You think that means you can only talk about the process you manage rather than the end result.
But here’s the thing. There is no reason you cannot and should not tell the story of the end result.
Speak in emotional terms about what fatherhood means to families. Then add a sentence or two about your role in that change. Fatherhood is the reason for your existence, and I can’t think of a more compelling basis for story (except perhaps motherhood, but that’s because I’m a mom of three.) Own why what you do matters!
No source of stories? Ask volunteers, staff or your small base of supporters to tell stories about what their dads meant to them as a way of showing why they love your cause.
Here’s what I’m talking about: An authentic voice on what it means to be a Dad (via Storycorps). (Be sure to listen, and take note of the last line: “I don’t think that there’s a higher calling that a man could have than to be a dad.”) Now THAT’S a story.
Don’t be the middleman, be the heart of the story.
Katya
Comments
This is of particular interest to me since at one time I wrote grant applications for a fatherhood initiative program. What you advise is so true, Katya, be personal with the story (yes, grants don’t have to be dry as dust!). In addition to that, I would pull local statistics to back up those “feel-good” stories. I think it’s a mix of both that makes for the best persuasion for support.