Do You Just Love Me for My Money?

Donors are tired of receiving solicitation after solicitation merely asking for their financial support. If you want to succeed in the fundraising market today, then it is increasingly important to offer donors and potential donors an opportunity within your direct-marketing efforts to do more than just write a check.

You must make your donor a partner in your mission. The donor must understand that she is an integral part of your organization, not just a dollar sign. If you can find legitimate ways for your donors to participate in your mission, you will be rewarded with greater donor loyalty, better retention and higher levels of financial support.

That’s why you need to ask yourself, “How else can our donor base support our mission, in ways other than donating money?”

Whatever your answer, your solution more than likely will be an “involvement device.” Involvement devices are vehicles employed by your direct-marketing program that require an action other than a contribution.

One of the most obvious examples of an involvement device is the petition. Many 501(c)4 organizations use petitions to demonstrate support or opposition to a particular action. Petitions can be addressed to members of the legislative or executive branches of our government regarding a particular issue or stance, or be targeted to other entities, such as regional or local elected positions or even corporations.

Another popular form of involvement device is the survey. Often called a poll or a questionnaire, these allow the donor to express her views about a particular subject. Surveys aren’t as prevalent as they once were in the direct-marketing community, but they can be employed successfully for just the right occasion.

Other involvement devices include donor-recruiting-donor campaigns, in which donors are provided materials and/or incentives to recruit neighbors, family and friends to also become donors. And the “campaign kit,” which often features a poster, bumper sticker and other materials for a donor to display or distribute.

Involvement devices are an important component you should consider using for your fundraising program. But here is a word of caution: Don’t use any of these ideas if you don’t plan to legitimately use the end product. You should only use petitions if your organization truly plans on using them to influence the target of the petition. Don’t use polls or surveys if you don’t plan on compiling some form of results.

My clients have used petitions in their fundraising programs to generate grand spectacles that have resulted in press coverage. Several have photographed their petition deliveries in front of Congress and sent the photograph to their donors afterwards. They also have compiled returned surveys and polls and mailed the results to those who participated. Both situations resulted in much greater support from donors.

People want to give to good causes because they personally want to reach out and affect the world around them. By utilizing involvement devices properly, you’ll improve the quality and scope of their experience with your organization, and they will reward you as a result.

Jim Hussey is president of Adams Hussey & Associates. He can be contacted at jhussey@ahadirect.com.