Saying “we exist” is not fundraising

How often do you see a message from a nonprofit — often a billboard, transit ad, or print ad — that consists of the following:

• The organization’s logo and tagline.
  
• A stock photo of happy people. They look like random happy people, but I think they’re usually meant to stand for the people the organization helps. Happy because whatever they were facing has been taken care of, thanks to the organization.
  
• Contact information: URL, phone, address.
  

And that’s it.

It’s surprisingly frequent. And almost completely ineffective.

Proclaiming your existence is not fundraising.

It’s also not marketing, advertising, or branding.

It accomplishes almost nothing.

To raise funds, you need to make a clear and compelling call to action. Even to do something as vague as capture attention or “raise awareness,” you still have to make a promise, be remarkable, or otherwise enter the audience’s world.

Just saying you exist does none of that. Don’t do it. Even if the media space is donated.

(This post first appeared on October 3, 2014.)