Can I get an “amen?!”
Someone had to say it. And no one says it better than John Lepp of Agents of Good, who relays it, directly from a donor herself:
It’s! All! Fundraising!!!
And yet my copywriter friends will tell me horror stories of working with nonprofit agencies and being unable to access marketing folk.
“We can’t touch their lists of event donors!” I’ll hear.
Seriously?
I once worked with a chapter of a national nonprofit organization that spent more on “rebranding” than some small shops’ entire operating budget, when, truth be told, their database was filled with “diamonds,” loyal donors who would have guided their fundraising and marketing endeavors…if only they’d been asked.
And tiny nonprofit organizations without a pot to piss in will spout off about needing to “brand” their mission and my jaw drops.
NO. You need to know your donors.
You need to understand their motivations.
You need to talk to them and listen to them and deepen your relationships with them.
John writes: “The charities that keep their donor front and centre in their marketing, their branding, their website, their email and in their direct mail will win.
Stop pushing your “communications” down their throats and start pulling them towards you by giving them that they need and deserve.”
Coincidentally I just came from a remarkably worthwhile conference (how many have you been to that were “meh?”) where three crazy successful organizations presented. What did all three have in common? An insistence on breaking down silos. The knowledge that everyone needs to be on the same page.
Call it “law of attraction fundraising.” The rest is all BS.
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I can’t wait to meet with you personally.
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