Focus Donor Attention on the Near Future

The graphic above has been sitting in a folder on my computer for months because I’m not quite happy with it. 

But I’m following my own advice and “sending it out even if it isn’t perfect.”  I think it can help you raise more money this fall, and a lot of organizations need all the help they can get right now. 

Here’s the Big Idea; focus your appeals on the near future, not on the past.

To use the language I used in the graphic; you will raise more money if you focus your appeals on “work that needs to be done soon.”  You will raise less money if you focus your appeals on “work your organization has already done.”

Weirdly, nonprofits tend to relentlessly focus their fundraising on the past.  They share stories of people they have already helped.  They share statistics and lots of numbers from their past work.  They talk about the approach they’ve used.

I believe this comes from a good place – it’s an attempt to prove to donors that the organization knows what it’s doing and is effective.

But what I’ve seen from looking at fundraising results for 30 years is that individual donors send in more money when the focus of the appeal is on the near future, not on the past.

When you ask your individual donors to fund meaningful work that needs to be done soon, I think three things are happening:

• Donors are thinking about something they can affect (the near future), versus something they cannot affect (the past).
• Donors are thinking about the negative situation your beneficiaries are facing today, instead of a positive story of a person who has already been helped and no longer needs help.
• Donors realize that their choice in this moment has consequences in the near term.

But really, even just those three bullet points overcomplicate things. 

It’s as simple as this little story … put yourselves in the shoes of a busy individual donor.  She’s at home, has a couple minutes, and is going through her mail or email.  She feels like making a gift.  Which appeal do you think she will give to:

• “We’ve done work that’s important to you in the past, will you support us?”
• “Work that’s important to you needs to happen two weeks from now, will you give a gift to help?”

Individual donors making quick decisions seem to be wired to support work that they care about that needs to be done soon. 

So focus your appeals on the near future – usually between the day you send it and about 8 weeks from then. Focus on meaningful work/service/help your organization plans/hopes to do in the next month or so.  Ask your donors to send in a gift to help fund that work. 

Save the focus on the past for when you are reporting back to donors.  Or when you are making a case to a Foundation for why they should give you a grant.

If our experience is any indication, you’ll be so pleased at how much money your appeals raise that you’ll never go back to focusing your appeals on the past.

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