Needs, Wants and the Absolute Importance of Relevance

In a climate in which donors carefully are weighing need versus want, relevance is everything. A budget crisis without serious consequences that speak to donors’ priority concerns isn’t likely to make the cut when giving decisions are made.

An alternative approach
Because it’s easy to critique but not always so easy to craft a compelling offer, I’ll ante up a suggestion for what I would have done instead of the budget-crisis “telegram”: a very personal, even intimate, story-driven appeal from someone who lost a loved one — the very reason the organization was founded.