Big Problems Generate Small Gifts

You may have heard of the fundraising technique called “fundcrushing.” It was presented to me recently as a novel way to raise money.

It’s based on the mistaken assumption that your prospective donors will respond if they know truly how huge the challenge is you want to solve.

Let your supporters know just how cosmic, just how tremendous your project is, and they’ll rush to be a part of it.

Wrong.

A problem that is overwhelmingly huge—solving “world poverty”, for example—is actually an incentive not to give.

How’s that?

“Huge” is relative. Telling folks that you need $10,000 per day to keep the doors open for a small community organization is huge. Telling them that people generally contribute $10 is doable.

Fundraising results going down as the problem gets larger is what is called the “drop-in-the-bucket” effect. “My modest gift (the donor defines modest) couldn’t possibly make a dent in that,” they say.

People give to people. They don’t give to ideas or cosmic visions of the future.

People give gifts to see results—the results in the lives of individuals. They don’t give to an abstract concept. For example, “world poverty,” whatever that is.

Principle 2 of The Eight Principles™ is Begin at the Beginning. They way you present what you want to achieve makes all the difference. Present from the donor’s point of view.

So, if you’re out to change the world, do it in manageable steps for your investors. Let them see the light at the end of the tunnel. Funny thing, the more doable the step, the more you raise.

To your fundraising success!