Donors

3 Far-out fundraising fails: Fantasy fundraising. Fad fundraising. And, fact-free fundraising. Read Jeff Brooks‘ blog of September 27, 2012.

Read Jeff’s blog today, 10-01-12, about what to ask for in your direct mail solicitation. Just the gift! Nothing else. Not volunteering. Not attending the event. One ask only. Don’t distract the reader!

I was talking with Jody of Massachusetts the other day. She’s a chief development officer. We were talking about the responsibility and obligation of the development office to ensure proper treatment of donors, fulfillment of the donor’s intent, ethics, and legal and regulatory compliance.

Jody said, “The director of development is the compliance officer for all things related to donors and fundraising.” I never used quite that phrase. I love it! Thank you, Jody.

Hey, all you development officers: Are you serving as your organization’s compliance officer? Hey, all you executive directors: Do you respect your development officer’s role as compliance officer?

Storytelling is so important to fundraising. Storytelling is so important to human connection and conversation. Storytelling is just so important.

“We live in stories the way fish live in water,”says Daniel Taylor in a book called Tell Me a Story: The Life-Shaping Power of Our Stories. We “breath them in and out. Stories “buoy and feed us.”

Robert Fulford sees storytelling as “the juncture where facts and feelings meet, the bundle in which we wrap the truth, hope and dread.” Fulford explains that narrative is how we explain and teach and entertain ourselves.

We tell stories about situations and causes and other people. We also create stories about ourselves and share them through our need for self-disclosure. (See the companion piece in today’s blog…self-disclosure and neuroscience.)

Dan McAdams says, “Narratives guide behavior in every moment, and frame not only how we see the past but how we see ourselves in the future…. We find that when it comes to the big choices people make…they draw on these stories implicitly…”

I read all this in Pat Thompson’s great piece “Being the Change We Want,” May 2009, focusing on vocational renewal. Read Thompson’s monograph. It’s wonderful!

And here’s something I heard on NPR, also about storytelling: “True as remembered by the storyteller.” I don’t remember if I heard that on NPR or read it somewhere.

So I’m telling you a story. Or you’re telling me a story. Is the story true? Yes…it is the truth that I remember…my understanding and interpretation of the situation and the characters and the struggle and the triumph… True as I remember it – and I’m telling the story. Or you’re telling the story.

I tell stories of the Vietnam War, a seminal period of my life. I tell the stories one way. And then I was checking with my brother Alain and he told some of the stories a different way. True, as told by each of us as a different storyteller.

So say authors Diana I. Tamir and Jason P. Mitchell from Harvard University’s Department of Psychology.

Yes, people love to talk about themselves – it gives our brains a dopamine high. Our brains are “wired for self-disclosure,” says neuroscience. (Think about Facebook!)

This is great information for fundraisers and their organizations. We want to hear the stories of our donors. We value donor-centrism. And neuroscience and behavioral psychology explain why.

We are in the business of collecting donor stories – and retelling those stories in our newsletters, annual reports, direct mail solicitations, on our website. Good fundraisers invite donors to tell their stories themselves – at the podium for that special event or program or in a small focus group.

Yes, people love to talk about themselves. Invite them to do so. Encourage them to do so. Welcome their stories.

Thanks to Jeff Brooks and his blog of August 7, 2012: “Good news for fundraisers: Donors are happy and loyal.” Research shows that women are somewhat happier than men — and older people are happier than younger people. And happy people are more loyal customers.

So why do fundraisers and their organizations care? Because customer loyalty is so much like donor loyalty! Just imagine…happier donors could be more loyal donors…and older donors could be even happier.

After reading Jeff, I pulled out the January – February 2012 issue of Harvard Business Review. There are several articles about happiness. Check it out.

Bruce Springsteen describes his job: “It’s theatre, you know. I’m a theatrical performer. I’m whispering in your ear, and you’re dreaming my dreams, and then I’m getting a feeling for yours.”

Isn’t that pretty much what good fundraisers do? Finding the donor’s feelings. Whispering in the donor’s ear. Sharing dreams.

Did you see the “call out” in The Agitator blog, “Flat Earth Fundraising: Preventing Bottom-line Shipwrecks”? Roger Craver cites 3 books that can help your organization avoid the shipwreck:

— Ken Burnett’s “landmark and breakthrough” book Relationship Fundraising: A Donor Based Approach to the Business of Raising Money, published in 1992. This is a must-read for the serious professional.

— Building Donor Loyalty by Adrian Sargeant and Elaine Jay, “the next major treatise (2004) in fundraising navigation,” says Roger. Another must-read for the serious professional.

— And three years later (2007), Tom Ahern and Simone Joyaux “came forth with a jam-paccked book of additional insights” in Keep Your Donors: The Guide to Better Communications and Stronger Relationships.

Imagine how proud Tom and I are…recognized by The Agitator…and highlighted with Ken and Adrian and Elaine.

1. Giving USA: The Annual Report for Philanthropy (for 2011) is now out. Good news. Bad news. Steady news. I sure hope you read this every year. Lots of info to share with your development colleagues, CEO, fund development committee, and board. What are the implications for your organization?

2. “Design a logo that doesn’t chase away donors.” That’s Jeff Brooks and The Duck Call.

3. Read “Social Influences in Giving,” by Jen (Yue) Shang and Rachel Croson at the Nonprofit Quarterly. Shang and Crosen’s research with NPR documents how a charity can increase gift size just by using social information with donors. A must-read for fundraisers everywhere.

4. Dan Ariely‘s book The (Honest) Truth about Dishonesty is probably something we all should read. The Economist even wrote a column about it.

5. Check out this book, recommended by my colleague Mary Shirley: Non-Manipulative Selling by Anthony Alessandra and Phillip Wexler, published in 1979. Mary says that we fundraisers could learn from this…a step-by-step how-to on building trust and listening to your customer (just substitute “donor”). Monitoring your own verbal and nonverbal communication. And refusing a sale if it’s not in the customer/donor’s best interest. Are you donor-centered? Is your organization donor-centered?

I love the HSBC ads I see at airports around the world. (I was hoping I’d find the ads on the bank’s website. But I didn’t.) Here’s a new one that I just saw:

“2/3 of the people who have ever reached 65 are alive today.”

Wow. Can you believe that? What does that mean for your organization’s service, volunteerism, financial donors? What does that mean for you or me or your family or our world?

“2/3 of the people who have ever reached 65 are alive today.” Wow.

Fundraising researcher Adrian Sargeant tells us that the key drivers of donor loyalty are: satisfaction, trust, commitment, and engagement.

So how about trust?

Check out Seth Godin‘s June 23, 2012 blog: “Where does trust come from?” Not from the good times and the easy projects, says Seth. “We trust people because they showed up when it wasn’t convenient, because they todl the truth when it was easier to lie, and because they kept a promise when they could have gotten away with breaking it.”

Check out Charles Green’s Trust Matters Blog. One trusts and the other is trusted. To be trusted, one must be trustworthy. Trust includes 4 elements: Credibility (the words we speak). Reliability (how we act). Intimacy (safety or security a person feels when entrusting someone with something). Self-orientation (are you focused on me or on you?) And Green proposes an equation to measure your trust quotient. Check it out.