How to make your fundraising focus on your donor

by guest blogger Andrew Rogers

Author Alain de Botton (I recommend his The Art of Travel and The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work) puts a lot of time into being aphoristic on Twitter. My favorite tweet of his, from a couple of years back, is “Writing: A field where the consequences of mediocrity are considerably more serious than in banking or the law.”

Here’s one he tweeted recently:

Writing: if I’ve properly studied what’s going on in me, there’s a good chance it’ll read as if it’s about you.

— Alain de Botton (@alaindebotton) January 8, 2013

Is it stretching a point to see an application for fundraisers here? We’re always in danger of making our work about ourselves — our cause, our organization, our process.

If we’ve “properly studied what’s going on,” though, we’ve placed the donor at the center of our organization and of our thinking. Then, there’s a good chance that what we say will “read as if” — and actually be — about her.

Speaking to a donor that way isn’t an artificial “technique.” It’s an honest and human interaction. It builds and strengthens relationships. To use de Botton’s word, it’s “proper.”