Fundraising and the Backward Brain

If right-hemisphere thinking had been happening at this point, the error of this approach would have been clear. While people say (and no doubt believe) they give for purely rational reasons, they don't.

People give when their hearts are touched. They give because it feels good to give. They give because of what giving says about them — either to others or to themselves. They give because their priests, or mothers, or neighbors, or a celebrity told them to give. Donors do indeed want efficiency and efficacy — but those things don't motivate action. Fundraising based solely on rational reasons for giving simply doesn't work.