Bad things happen. Wars. Famines. Storms. Earthquakes. Buildings burn down. Policy changes leave people out in the cold.
This isn’t news. Everybody knows.
But to see the way some fundraisers work, you might think we live in a very different world, where everything goes well all the time, and we only ask donors to help make things go even better.
Some nonprofits are afraid to share bad news. They think it will chase away donors or cause “donor fatigue.”
So they raise a lot less than they could.
You see, in fundraising, Bad News is an Opportunity, according to the Better Fundraising Blog:
Donors are more likely to respond when they feel needed…. If you [create] fundraising that helps donors feel needed, and believing that they can give more and more often – over time you will unleash donor generosity and build a group of resilient donors.
Don’t be afraid to share bad news.
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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