Talking about your organization’s uniqueness is self-centered, when the most effective fundraising is
generous
.
Additionally, the word “unique” is neither positive nor negative. It just means you’re the only one. It doesn’t mean your organization is a good place for your donor to give a gift.
So you just spent a few of your precious seconds telling your donors something neither good nor bad… when you could have been busy telling them something good.
But! If you keep pushing on the idea of your uniqueness, if you can be generous in how you present it, it can be a strength.
You can tell your donor that her gift through your organization is the only place where she can have her gift do
this
.
You can tell her she’s part of a tribe, a special group of people who see things a little bit more clearly. You can tell her she’s part of a generous, smart community of donors who are doing things more effectively than they’ve been done before. Who are doing something the best that it can be done right now.
You can tell her that she’s unique in that she “gets it,” that she cares, and that she does something about it.
If you can push past talking about how your organization is unique, and get to where you’re talking about how your donor’s gift will help your beneficiaries or cause in uniquely powerful ways, then you’ve got something that will increase donations to your organization.
Because the fact that you’re the only organization doing something is not effective at motivating people to give gifts.
But the fact that their gift will do something uniquely powerful and effective is
very
effective at motivating people to give gifts.
Steven
Steven Screen is Co-Founder of The Better Fundraising Company and lead author of its blog. With over 25 years' fundraising experience, he gets energized by helping organizations understand how they can raise more money. He’s a second-generation fundraiser, a past winner of the Direct Mail Package of the Year, and data-driven.
