As a fundraiser and a donor I myself felt fatigued the other night at a local non-profit meeting. It was a GREAT meeting with an engaging speaker, and lots of scintillating conversation. Overall an unexpected result from what normally would be a dry meeting of reports and expectations.
The fatigue set in with one fundraising faux pau after another. I wantto share them with you so that you do not make the same mistakes when you have a captive audience.
Please understand that donor fatigue comes in many shapes and sizes and is not always a result of repeated giving. The fatigue sets in from repeated appeals, and most importantly from repeated BAD appeals. Below are some things to definitely NOT DO.
First there were 4 appeals for funds all at the tail end of the agenda. One half way, that could be considered the WORST APPEAL or “ASK” that I have seen in recent history so I will start with that.
The audience was primed for giving; a great cause, call to action, and shared value in the organization’s mission. (to find out more about priming the audience shoot me an email) They were bought in! As a fundraiser I was salivating at the opportunity to make the donation request.
The treasurer of the organization then get’s up and reports the amount of money on hand, and cautions that a few bills are still outstanding. The crowd was confused, “So how much money do we have?” The treasurer gave a guesstamite. Not instilling confidence at all. Now if you are an organization with a $250,000 annual budget or more than a guesstimate give or take a couple of hundred dollars is fine. Suffice it to say that this organization is NOT a $250,000 organization.
The treasurer continued with his statement, “we need money so if you want to give please do this was not soft sell. This was a travesty. An audience member questioned what it would cost to do some of the things suggested by the speaker and the response was, “I don’t know, I am not sure what we are going to do.” Chaos followed, the speaker gave them project ideas that at most would cost $200 and they sat dumbfounded.No one gave. NOTE- No one will give you money for something you are not sure of and the cardinal rule of ask for a specific amount was out the window.
NOTE to Organization Leaders- Treasurers may be CPAs that does not make them fundraisers. I raise money I DO NOT do my own taxes. get it?
So on to the 3 disastrous asks:
As is true for most non profits the people who donate to you often donate to other organizations. That’s great HOWEVER that does not mean you have to solicit donations for other organizations.
The first ask was a request for a fundraiser happening later in the week with a base ticket of $100.
Here is what was missing from being successful:
- There were no details (time, place, etc) and no written handout or reminder
- The only details available were the tiers of giving $100-$10K
- The audience is a $10 a week crowd (you have to KNOW your audience and their level of contribution)
- The proceeds were going to another organization with no clear reason why to donate
- Short Notice
The second request was for a Smalller Ticket Event, no tiers just $25
- Their were two printed invitations for an audience of 50
- The event was described poorly with vague details of who and what would occur
- There was no mention as to how the proceeds would be spent
- The date conflicted with the previous announcement for a work project. People will give time, money, or both if you are asking them to give 5 hours to a community service project and then return for an evening dinner it has to be INCREDIBLY compelling becasue most would rather just the dinner and feel that they are contributing enough.
I am not even clear on what the third request was it was a smaller donation event in two months:
- The pitch was to go to all three events and sign up on the spot
- Again vauge details
- Nothing written
- No compelling reason
Now before my head spun around they got to the last appeal which was a fundraiser for the actual organization. It was the smallest donation amount $20. They gave a date and a location, no address. After all the dates, times, and all being given out the audience was more then confused and not reaching for a checkbook. The Chair of the Organization then said he would send an email with the details and the audience breathed a collective sigh of relief. Not me, again as a fundraiser I saw it in their eyes, no email message would resurrect the feelings they had at the beginning of the meeting.
The only thing that could have saved this was to have tickets for sale or donation forms in hand and given out and checks or credit card numbers collected on the spot. Now the organization will have to chase down people if they want to raise any money. They also put their donors in such a fatigued state that some will not return to the meetings.
I like to say, Opportunities are not Missed just passed on to other people. In this case these people will donate to someone, just not this organization.
In a Down Economy People will Donate just DO NOT miss your Opportunity.
