3 powerful ways to use social proof in your fundraising

One fundraising mistake that’s so tempting to make: Telling donors that hardly anyone is supporting your cause … thus their gift is extra important.

It seems like a good idea.

It’s not.

It’s basically proof that only a few weird people care about your cause.

It’s much better to let donors know others are already on board, and they can join the party.

It’s social proof, and it can boost your fundraising. Check out this post from the TrueSense Blog: Using Social Proof to Boost Donor Engagement: Lessons from E-commerce.

1. Show donor activity in real time. Online, you can have pop-ups that say things like “John from Springfield just donated.” In print you can say “461 people have already sent their gifts.” These things make it clear to donors that they aren’t alone.
2. Highlight donor testimonials. Let donors be heard talking about why they give and how they feel about it.
3. Segment by location or interest. A long-used approach in direct mail has been to invite donors to join the Campaign. That works. So do other ways of identifying donors as belonging to communities or groups.