How to get new donors to support your major initiative

Bring your fundraising goals down to earth through
targeted communication. Photo by Liz Cezat.

Before you try to convince new donors to embrace and support a major initiative, you will need to find out something about their beliefs. If you are making a presentation, you may want to invite people from certain work places, clubs or neighborhoods, based on a scale of attributes that closely match your existing donors. Think of cloning the persona of your most avid donors. If you are planning a letter request,  target the message in a manner that explores the initiative fully and also points out how this initiative speaks to the new donors' interests.

Let’s say a fundraising professional needs to raise $5 million to name an endowed chair at the engineering school of a leading university. That professional knows to address the topic of a new endowed chair. Yet, he or she must adroitly weave in the core message, "What’s in it for the funder?" Because the funder or donor needs to be moved to make a generous donation for  this program.

You, as a fundraising professional, could proceed to talk about how the endowed chair will improve the faculty’s ability to teach because they will have new tools and technology to do research and be better equipped to teach their courses online or in the classroom. That same endowed chair will benefit students because it will provide funds for the university to upgrade their science laboratories. For donors, funding such a chair will enable them to feel empowered about advancing the level of education at the university, plus it will mean a more educated workforce for the businesses that these donors own or operate. The answer to the core message is: "Take ownership in this educational advancement."

As a fundraising professional, you need to provide descriptive details about how this new program will impact not only the university but also the larger community. Create a vision through your words and phrases to make it desirable to new donors. Illustrate through technological advances and personal touch-points how it will improve the standard of living in a community they care about. While the technological advances of the initiative provide a macro overview,  the personal touch points can make a connection with a micro view. 

The tone of your message - for print or in presentations - is vital to the success of your campaign. Striking the right balance between the appeal and making it appealing can elevate your website copy, newsletters, brochures and annual reports for a dynamic impact. The right approach can ensure the success of your fundraising goals for a university, health care system or a community-based nonprofit. 

I have expertise in crafting fundraising appeals for case statements, marketing materials and community relations/PR. Plus, my writing is supported by professional graphic design. I welcome your questions to help you achieve greater success in your campaign.

Research and interviews that make the grade

With the Internet resources today, interviews and reports are much more compelling and a whole lot easier to research and write. When I first started my business in 1994, doing background preparation for a CEO speech or a major profile was like going down a blind alley on the Internet. It took hours, involved looking at horsey typeface (typically multi-colored and different fonts), had few if any decent pictures, and often led to dead-ends.

What's the story behind these newlyweds? (Photo by Liz Cezat)

Now there’s Google and other snappy search engines that take you where you want to go in a matter of seconds. In preparation for interviews, I typically “google” the person or subject to supplement what I already know. It is through this compilation of written reports and YouTube videos that I gather the kernels of questions I will ask the interviewee.

Aside from my own curiosity, I am guided in my writing by the audience of the newsletter, magazine or report. What do the readers want to know about this person or topic?

If they are donors, they often want to know what motivates a philanthropist to donate to a specific cause. Was there an incident in their childhood that caused them to favor a certain nonprofit organization as an adult? Did one of their children sustain a debilitating injury or chronic illness that changed the family’s life? Readers are also curious about the type of business or investments that enable a philanthropist to be a major supporter of an organization.

For alumni publications read by both recent graduates and older alumni, learning about a fellow alum’s path to success is always of interest. Poignant stories that tell of a special relationship connect with readers emotionally. Did the couple elope at 18 in order to leave the country and start a new restaurant chain that made them multi-millionaries? Reports about how an individual overcame adversity or seized an opportunity make for riveting reading.

I try to ferret out the unique aspects of an individual and that typically comes out during the actual interview. Thus, I must be alert to where the conversation is going if it strays from my set questions. If the thread of the interview takes me to a new place, I tend to explore it. That thread may reveal information that makes the finished article much different than it otherwise would have been. Whenever possible, I also ask colleagues or friends of the individual for insight into his/her personality, actions or achievements.

Let me know if you have a topic or individual that your organization or business wants to highlight in a newsletter, blog, magazine or special report. I’d be happy to do the research and writing.