You are not your donors’ spokesperson

I just read this on a marketing blog: “Millennials are looking for experiences that are unique, creative, and edgy.”

That is a useless and silly assertion.

It might be true of some millennials. There might be research showing it’s a trait more common among millennials than others. But as a blanket assertion, it’s not only unprovable, it is almost certainly untrue.

Worse yet, the description is abstract. Completely open to interpretation of what exactly it means.

And wildly useless for fundraising.

Statements like that often come from self-appointed spokespersons. People who have an opinion about what they think, believe, or prefer — and proclaim their opinion to be a truth to a whole generation. Or all of humanity.

When someone makes one of those sweeping assertions, ask for the data. The data may or may not be valid or applicable, but if there’s data, you have a basis for believing (or not believing) what they say.

If the assertion is “This is me, thus it’s everyone in my category” — you should ignore it. At most, you should treat it as a potential test hypothesis.

Here’s the hard part, though: We are all tempted to appoint ourselves as spokesperson for our group. It seems correct and logical. I feel something strongly; everyone who is like me must feel the same!

Successful fundraising comes from real knowledge about real donors. Not sweeping (and thus untrustworthy) generalizations.