DIY Fundraising: What Makes Your Organization Great?

Therefore, it’s this simple statement that should form the basis of all your fundraising communications and relationship-building activities. Understanding what’s in it for donors and what excites them is a cornerstone to success. When donors look to fund an organization, they not only look for success and positive impact, they also want to know what makes you special, because they often identify emotionally with discrete program variations. Therefore, your best bet for improving your brand is to celebrate these differences. Most importantly, when there is a clear delineation between your organization and others, there exists a greater opportunity for collaboration, which collectively reduces competition between those very organizations.

Relationships Fuel Fundraising: What’s in It for Me?

In developing and building your relationships with donors, it is important to look at each donor as an individual and be able to answer the question: What’s in it for me? Correspondingly, another “Zellnerism” I’d like to share is that organizations don’t have needs, but people do, especially those with whom you’re trying to engage as donors. Understanding individual donor needs is a critical step that works to connect, engage and create ownership of your mission by donors at all levels. Fulfill each donor’s needs first, and you gain valuable allies in achieving your mission.

Positioning Describes How You Stack Up to the Competition

While the notion of competition is often a bit foreign in the nonprofit world, I’d like to assert that competition is good for the community. Positioning defines how and where you fit in with regard to your work and mission and is a way to illustrate how you differentiate yourself from all the others that work with your constituents. It forces you to seriously consider the how of what you do and compare and contrast it with others in your field.