If you’ve ever tried to come up with a fundraising idea that would motivate “everybody” to give, you know how it has gone. Reaching everybody is a silly goal. Like telling a joke that everybody will find funny.
Seth Godin’s blog encourages us to focus, at For the one person who didn’t get the joke:
… the ability to say, “It’s not for you,” is the foundation for creating something brave and important. You can’t do your best work if you’re always trying to touch the untouchable, or entertain those that refuse to be entertained.
Your fundraising messages — especially your most effective ones — clearly exclude most people. That’s not a shortcoming or a mistake. It’s smart fundraising.
If you’re trying to reach “everyone,” you’re probably reaching no one.
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.
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