Say It Simply — So Donors Feel It Deeply

Now is not a time to hold back. If grant cutbacks, contract cancellations, executive orders, layoffs, economic uncertainty fear or something else are causing you to hunker down, resist.

Your supporters rely on you to tell them — plain and simple — how they can help. 

So many feel helpless and hopeless in the face of a firehose of (often conflicting) news. They don’t like a lot of what they’re seeing, but have little clue what to do about it. It feels bad. That’s where you, the philanthropy facilitator, come in!

People feel better when coming from a place of love — rather than hate. From hope, rather than fear. And philanthropy, at its very center, is all about love of humanity.

Forget about money for a minute and refocus on your vision, mission and case for support. These are your body, heart and soul. Remember, you stand for something people value and find critically important. This is what brought people to you in the first place. They cared then. There’s no reason to think they’ll care less now. Make your persuasive case.

• Tell compelling stories that break people’s hearts and restore their faith. If you want people to give, you must move them emotionally. You must offer a perspective from which they can choose to act.
• Remind constituents of your shared ideals. The values you enact will draw like-minded folks like a magnet.
• Invite people to join you in enacting your collective values. As much as you have a vision, mission and values, donors have their own callings.
• Show the impact people yearn for. Make sure this impact is described on a scale people can visualize.

Strive to Have an Effect

In your nonprofit fundraising and marketing moving forward, take care to choose words that make clear to your audiences exactly what is at stake. Not just for your organization, but for the people who rely on you for services.

Don’t pussyfoot or speak in generalities, especially when your shared vision for a better world is at stake. Speak plainly, avoid jargon and triggering phrases, and use the most powerful words you can. You don’t need a lot of adjectives or adverbs.

Simply call out the wrongs being inflicted that need to be righted. As you write, ask yourself if a 6-year-old or 12-year-old would understand your message. “People are being grabbed off the street and taken away from their families” is stronger than “People are being deported without due process.” No word you use should have to be explained.

Tell Donors Specifically What Will Help

None of this “every dollar helps” nonsense. That's drop-in-the-bucket language. It's neither inspiring nor descriptive of impact.

Try to be as clear as a bell. Make a match between what will be sufficient to get the task done and what you need from the donor to contribute to the impact you both seek.

When someone listens to or reads your message, you want them to hear a “ring, ring, ring-a-ding, dang — that makes sense. That’s something I can do!”

For example, the other day, outside a local grocery store, my husband gave a man asking for spare change a couple of dollars. Apparently, that was enough to get him what he needed, as he proceeded to march right into the store to make a food purchase. It felt good, because it was so concretely helpful.

Make the Impact of a Donor’s Gift Plain as Day

If it’s not easy for someone to see, they won’t see it. So, guard against getting lost in the process. If you think, “We have to send a spring appeal,” you’re likely to lose important focus and meaning. And, speaking of meaning, remember to consider and incorporate what’s inherent for the donor when they take ownership of helping create meaningful impact.

1. Get clarity on what you really want to tell the donor. If you need to raise $200,000 or risk shutting the doors to a food pantry, killing an essential wildfire prevention program or ending vital after-school programs upon which thousands of families rely, that’s precisely what you should say. Less than that won’t do the job.
2. Speak in easy-to-understand language. You wouldn’t use language that obscures the truth with your family and friends. If everything is not fine, help everyone understand what is true for you now.
3. Find an idiom or metaphor to clarify your message. The goal is to create an image in someone’s mind so they can picture and relate to it. It’s what you do when you say “I spent the day putting out fires.” This conveys more urgency and anxiety than saying “I had a hard day at work.”
4. Show a fresh, compelling photo of the problem if you can. Pictures are worth a thousand words — actually, more. Because they communicate instantaneously, and there’s no risk you’ll lose a reader midway through.

But if you’re doing great, say that too. Ask for what you need. Don’t ask for what you don’t need. But do tell folks how they can help your community and enact their values — even if it’s not through you right now.

This is how you’ll build credibility and goodwill, for today and tomorrow. Speaking plainly is all about truth, transparency and trust. And trust is the foundation of all sustainable relationships, including donor relationships.

Be clear, be real and make them care.

The preceding content was provided by a contributor unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within may not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of the staff of NonProfit PRO.