Here’s a great reminder from Jonathon Grapsas’ blog, at Decision paralysis: harming good fundraising.
Don’t try to do more than one thing when you’re fundraising. You’ll end up doing less than one:
… in any fundraising piece, talk about one thing, and one thing really bloody well. Don’t stray from the original message. We’ve tested this over time and proven it to be the most effective way to maximize return.
I’ve tested it too. More is less! Don’t throw in something about planned giving, or the upcoming event, or news about your staff. If you’re raising funds, just raise funds. That’s enough of a decision to ask people to make. Don’t pile on more — too many of them will just give up, leaving you in the lurch.
Jeff Brooks has been serving the nonprofit community for more than 35 years and blogging about it since 2005. He considers fundraising the most noble of pursuits and hopes you’ll join him in that opinion. You can reach him at jeff [at] jeff-brooks [dot] com.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.