Most of what you’re telling your donor, she does NOT care about. The end of your fiscal year. The money you need to raise. The building you need to buy or rent. The new staff member. The financial difficulty you’re facing. Your overhead percentage. The number of offices you have or counties or countries you’re in.
She doesn’t care about it. Nor does he.
This is what is so hard for non-profit insiders to understand and keep focused on – that donors care about solving problems. Societal problems. Problems THEY are interested in, not the ones you want to promote to them. Not your organizational problems – societal problems – those situations on the planet that they have a passion or interest about.
But what are we doing? We’re yakking about us. Our needs. Our situation. Our approach.
And that’s why the donor won’t respond to your email or your letter or your phone call or text. Because they don’t care about what you’re saying. It doesn’t register with them. It doesn’t capture their heart.
Right now, as you’re reading this, think about the donors on your caseload who aren’t responding to your inquiries and communication. Just think about them one at a time. And stop and ask yourself: “what am I saying to them?” In your honest answer to the question, you’ll discover the reason for their silence. They aren’t responding because they don’t care about what you’re saying. It has no value to them.
You and I both know how this works because we do the same thing. We pay attention to things we value. And we ignore those things we don’t value. Simple.
So, what are you going to do during these final months of the calendar year with your caseload donors? Are you going to keep up the same old chatter of last month? Or are you going to pay attention to what each of your donors values?
Jeff and I suggest you do the latter, because it will result in a successful, meaningful and authentic connection with your donor. And that’s what you want. It’s also what your donor wants.
Please pay attention to this very simple yet profound truth. It will change how you do things.
Richard
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Everything you present is of great value to me.
I beg to differ that donors don’t care the money I need to raise and the financial difficulty the organization is facing.
Perhaps the profile of donors in US is different from that of Australia for my donors do care how much we need to raise to meet the respective project budget for every dollar we failed to raise means someone will miss out in learning how to read and write. My donor care how has Covid-19 impacted the work we do and the money we need to raise to help those who are in greater need.
Thank you for your comment! We don’t disagree that donors who care deeply about your organization also care about the health of the organization. However, most likely that is not what is driving their giving. Most organizations have very organization-focused messaging that doesn’t connect to the donor’s interests and passions, which causes the donor to not be connected and could ultimately cause them to stop giving all together.