Agitator friend Caity Craver thought this wasn’t a bad list for nonprofit fundraisers to think about.

1. In all things, look for money first. Listen to people with money, respond to people with money, justify your actions around money.
2. Embrace the fact that you don’t know what you’re talking about. Aspire to run systems you don’t understand.
3. Compromise over the important issues, but dig in and fight forever over trivia.
4. Along those lines: focus obsessively on the short run. Even though you are virtually assured of re-election, define the long term as “before the next election.”
5. Take months off from your day job (with pay) to actively campaign for a better job.
6. Blame the system, the other side and your predecessors for the fact that you are not taking brave, independent action.
7. Avoid developing independent thought and analysis. Focus on parroting the work of lobbyists and the party line.
8. When given the choice between being on television or doing hard work, pick television.
   When a difficult problem shows up, duck.
9. Try mightily to outlast passionate resistance by quietly ignoring it and waiting for it to go away.

My favorite is #3.

What do you think?

Tom

And thinking about #6 — taking brave independent action — for you direct response fundraisers, perhaps nothing requires more courage than setting out to ‘beat the control’. Roger’s moderating a webinar that will present a new approach and tool for pre-testing packages, developed by DonorVoice. Seats in the February 9^th Direct Mail Testing Webinar are going fast. Agitator Readers can register here FREE.

Godin says:

Do they consider your nonprofit irrelevant or ineffectual? Or don’t they even notice you exist?

Assuming such prospects do knock at your door, how will your nonprofit respond? Suppose someone shows up with a really new and challenging proposition. Then what?

Seth Godin wrote a post the other day suggesting that your organizational culture would pre-determine the outcome.

He says: “If your organization is both pessimistic and operationally focused, then every new idea is a threat. It represents more work, something that could go wrong, a chance for disaster. People work to protect against the downside, to insulate against the market, to be sure that they won’t get blamed for anything that challenges the system.”

In contrast, there’s the organization characterized by “optimistic enthusiasm”.

Godin says: “an organization filled with people who are rewarded for shaking things up and generating game-changing products and services just might discover that outcomes they are dreaming of are in fact what happen. The enthusiasm that comes from believing that this one might just resonate with the market is precisely the ingredient that’s required to make something resonate.”

Regarding that Boomer — which reception will your organization give?

In your nonprofit, are new ideas threats or opportunities?

Tom

He’s talking about a sin I know I’ve committed in the past.

He warns that as a marketer you can become so focused on differentiating your offering from your competitors that you forget the need to address your prospect’s first option … which is to do nothing.

So, don’t forget. First things first … why does your cause need help in the first place … right now, today? Never take for granted that your potential donor has already crossed that bridge.

And one critical place to check whether you’re making the mistake is in your renewal series.

Tom

So we feel duty bound to bring you attention to this successful fundraising event — for the Humane Society for Southwest Washington. The event attracted more than 700 people and netted $500,000. Yes, the news article says ‘netted’!

That sounds like a decent evening to me. Then the article notes that the previous year’s event raised nearly $1.2 million, but that included a $400k match from local biz owners.

Apparently live and silent auctions played a key role, with more than 300 items up for grabs in the silent auction.

How was this pulled off? “More than 40 sponsors, both individuals and businesses, contributed more than $100,000 to underwrite the event that was put on by a team of 150 volunteers and staff.”

No question about it … events are really hard work. And the questions raised by Godin are appropriate.

But Seth … this sure sounds like a tribe-building event to me.

Tom

But don’t mistake that thrust for our abandoning of the necessity to master the basic fundamentals of fundraising.

Seth Godin wrote a real gem on this point a couple of weeks ago. It’s short, so I’ve reproduced in its entirety …

First, make rice

He argues: “…the gala is actually corrupting. Attendees are usually driven by social and selfish motivations to attend, and thus the philanthropic element of giving–just to give–is removed.” Of course, one could argue that many ‘big checks’ are so-motivated, at least in part, even when handed over in the privacy of a well-appointed study.

The closest he gets to conceding any purpose to charity galas is this: “Do elements of our community need gala-like events to lubricate their social interactions? Quite probably. It’s a tradition, particularly in certain cities and tribes.”

WOW!

Personally I’ve always thought that these events were simply the least efficient way to raise money imaginable. But I’ve never actually trashed them, because I do believe they can have some ‘tribe-building’ value (with the benefits Godin normally ascribes to tribes), if not done ‘over the top’ and not massively staff consuming and distracting. Peer-to-peer reinforcement has its place.

Godin doesn’t take comments (361 readers did ‘like’ the post on Facebook, and 179 retweets), so I thought perhaps some Agitator readers might want to have a go at his critique here.

Have at it!

Tom

Seth Godin has been promoting End Malaria the past couple of days, and here explains the case for that fundraising initiative using a book premium.

He says the book is better than a tote bag.

Now, I’m not a fan of premiums, period. Yes, I know they can lift response (not always), but they’re prone to generating low value, low loyalty tippers. So analysis of lifetime value usually indicates a rather poor return compared to non-premium responders.

But today I’m simply taking issue with the ‘book is better’ claim. I’m not at all sure a book (full of business and work habit tips) is better than a tote bag or a refrigerator magnet or any other premium that at least directly reinforces the cause/nonprofit’s brand and helps in some small (and ideally, frequent) way to keep it top of mind.

Plus, there’s more chance of the biz book overshadowing the cause, making the ‘donation’ even more incidental, than there is the tote bag doing so.

The first step toward improving lousy donor retention rates is to recruit more committed donors. Premiums — of any kind — blur the picture. But, if forced, I’d opt for the premium that might reinforce — and signal clearly to others — my donor’s commitment to my cause.

What do you think … tote bag (or a some other badge of the tribe) or biz book? Or no premium … simply offering the donor the peace of mind of doing good?

Tom

To tell you the truth, I didn’t get it. His conclusion … The scalable unique selling proposition is that being part of the community is worth more than it costs.

Huh?!

I just re-read it, hoping I might be smarter today, but still think it’s rather obtuse for perhaps our most gifted communicator about marketing.

But he did say this: A donation earns you peace of mind.

And that’s the real gem in his post.

Whether your donor is responding out of anger, frustration, hope, guilt, sympathy, fear or whatever feeling about an issue, what they are seeking emotionally is peace of mind.

They want to feel better about the situation.

Is that what your fundraising appeals are offering?

Tom

Here’s a recent post — Three things clients and customers want — where he’s offering terrific marketing insight. You need to provide at least one, and not just the first one, he says:

Results — that’s straighforward.

Thrills — need to amaze and excite.

Ego — need to make them feel important, but don’t ‘industrialize’ it.

I think his advice applies to your donors as well. Take a few moments to consider your latest marketing communications against these three deliverables.

Tom