How to Include Relevancy and Urgency in Your Fundraising Appeal
![fiscal year-end](https://bloomerang.co/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/annual-appeal-checklist-hero.png.webp)
Today I received five fundraising appeals in my mailbox.
It’s that time of year.
I brought them upstairs from my garage and began opening them quickly, searching for those I could easily toss.
It so happened they were all from names I recognized, so I didn’t toss them before bringing them inside the house. That happens a lot too, unless something about the mail package really catches my eye or intrigues me. But the carrier envelope is a subject for another day.
Today I want to talk specifically about assuring your appeal speaks loud and clear to what is top of mind for folks today.
You may be tired of thinking about the pandemic… racial upheaval… the election… threats to democracy… climate change and natural disasters… you name it. You may assume your constituents are tired too. Yet these are the issues in the news. These issues are what people are thinking about. And it’s likely one or more of these issues touches your donor personally.
As much as you’d like to pretend it’s business as usual, it isn’t.
The very air folks are breathing is different. Literally, people are afraid to breathe too freely lest they catch an infectious disease. If they’re exercising freedom of speech and assembly, the air around them may be infused with tear gas. In some parts of the country the sky has been filled with dangerously unhealthy smoke. Other parts of the country have been ravished by high winds and floods. Everywhere people look, danger lurks.
Sending last year’s appeal message won’t cut it.
For every nonprofit, there’s something about what’s going on in the world right now that directly impacts your work. Here’s your relevancy.
Think about what that one thing is for you. That’s your elephant. Failing to talk about it won’t make it disappear.
With your elephant comes your most pressing problem. Here’s your urgency.
Nonprofits in different sectors will identify different problems. For example:
Look at the appeal you’ve already written or are on the verge of writing. Do you:
If you fail to name these two things your appeal will fall mostly on deaf ears. There’s a lot of competition for donor dollars right now. Whatever problems existed in the past, today there is a heightened sense of doom and gloom. New problems are stacked atop old problems, to the point it can seem overwhelming.
The good news is folks want to help. They’re genuinely looking for opportunities to make the world a better place. I’ve never had so many people tell me they really want to do something to make a difference. They just aren’t sure where their dollars are best spent. It’s your job to make the case for them to spend them in support of your mission.
If you take nothing else away today, take away this: stories draw people in. Stories compel; data repels. Numbers make people put up their dukes to instinctively fight them and prove them wrong. Anything in your appeal that makes folks pause and think too hard is not a good thing.
“Stories sell. Statistics tell.
Stories are for everyone. Statistics are for specialists.
Stories need no translation. Statistics do.”— Tom Ahern, professional fundraising copywriter
Save statistics for your thank you letter, newsletter and annual report. It’s swell to use numbers to reinforce a donor’s decision after they’ve decided to give to you. It’s a great idea to prevent “buyer’s remorse,” offering proof their emotional decision was also a rational one. This will help persuade donors to give again.
For the appeal itself, focus on emotion.
Stories bring the emotion home in ways no dry recitation of the issues can accomplish.
These lump and tear-inducing emotions will cause donors to reach for their checkbook.
Stories bring the urgency to light in ways vague statements cannot. When a prospective donor is confronted with a black-and-white proposition — help or don’t help — there’s nothing vague about the ask; the donor can clearly visualize the cure.
Real urgency in your fundraising appeal can be visualized. And when donors can see the harm that will come if they fail to act, they are moved to avoid the harm. Fear of loss weighs heavier on people than hope of gain. This is important as it causes the donor to think from a perspective of generosity (If I don’t give, children will never be reunited with their parents) rather than greed (If I give, I won’t be able to buy a new painting).
Don’t pretend things are normal when they aren’t.
Donors can handle the truth. They want to help, but need you to describe the current opportunity in compelling terms they can understand.
That’s your job as a philanthropy facilitator.
In my next article I’ll evaluate two of the fundraising appeals I received today, from the perspective of their relevancy and urgency. Stay tuned!
Comments
2 Fundraising Appeal Examples: Include Relevancy and Urgency