7 mistakes that can sink your fundraising stories

Stories are great for fundraising.

Unless you get them wrong.

And it’s very easy to get things wrong when you tell stories. Here’s a helpful post from the Nonprofit Fundraising Blog, at Story Crimes: 7 Mistakes That Kill Your Fundraising Stories (And How to Fix Them):

1. Leading with Statistics. Stats kill compassion. You may think they make your story more important, but they actively disconnect your readers. Instead of stats, tell the story of one. A “solvable” problem. Numbers numb. Stories stimulate.
2. Hiding Behind “Clients” and “Participants.” These are handy words within your organization, but to your donors, they are categories, not people. They create distance between the donor and the human being they could be helping. Your donors give to make a difference for people. Not for statistics.
3. Making Your Organization the Hero. A lot of fundraising is all about the amazing things the organization is doing. This reduces the donor to being a spectator. Watching you do cool things. Not being invited to participate. Ask the donor to make things happen. Don’t ask them to give you money so you can make things happen.
4. Drowning in Program Details. The detail matter. To you. But donors don’t give to programs. They give to people. Focus on the difference giving can make possible. Not the details of what the giving funds. Outcomes. Not processes.
5. Stopping Before Transformation. Give the donor something to believe in. Let them know what will happen when they give.
6. Using Jargon the Donor Doesn’t Speak. Jargon is okay when it stays inside your organization. It’s a convenient way to talk about your work. But for donors, it just puts up barriers.
7. Writing for Your Board Instead of Your Donor. Board members are (properly) focused on the organization. The rest of your donors are not. They want good things to happen. When you speak to them the way you speak to board members, you miss the target. You ask them to fund things they don’t care about.