Why People Give

What will motivate people to give to my fundraising campaign? This is a question you should be prepared to answer in an instant. It’s a question that demands a ready defense, a solid apologetic. And it’s a question you should ask yourself every time you review a fundraising strategy or creative solution.

A few weeks ago, I sat down and reviewed some of the direct-mail appeal packages I had received in my home mailbox. It was quite a mixture of fundraising offers — appeals for political and public policy, humanitarian and social services, religious and cultural causes.

Some of the appeals completely missed their target; I wasn’t interested in or concerned about their issues or needs. These appeals flew directly into the trash bin.

Other packages captured my attention. These packages were from social enterprises I supported or had interest in. I opened them and read what they had to say; I mailed a gift to several of the organizations.

What caused me to respond to these fundraising appeals? The answer is found in a simple list of six essential motivators of donor behavior. Target these motivators, and your fundraising will soar. Every donor is prompted to give because of one or more of these factors. (Credit for this list goes to the creative experts I have relied on and learned from over the years, including Bob Ball, Jeff Brooks and Herschell Gordon Lewis.)

Six essential motivators of donor behavior
Here’s the list in alphabetical order, followed by a few comments on the most important ones. Don’t get hung up on the words used to describe the motivation. Get past that and focus on the underlying motivation.

1) Anger. This is an extremely strong motivator. People tend to act when they are angry, especially if their anger is based on moral outrage or righteous indignation at injustice or evil.

A very good example of how anger motivates people can be seen in the mid-term elections last November. Voters were angry. Angry about the war in Iraq. Angry about public corruption and abuse of power. Angry about reckless economic policy that has exploded the national debt and rewarded the wealthiest among us. Angry about the polarization of political discourse, the extreme voices controlling the agenda. Thankfully, in our country, people vent their political anger by giving, volunteering and voting rather than rioting in the streets. Fundraising for the Democrats soared, and they won big on Election Day.

Successful fundraisers connect with donor anger and then channel that anger into appropriate expressions of giving, volunteering and advocacy.

2) Ego gratification. People like to feel good. They want to know they’re making a difference and that they have significance. In fact, the search for personal significance is one of the strongest and most widespread social phenomena of our day. This search for significance has fueled a surge in what social scientists call “spirituality.”

Successful fundraisers recognize the importance of ego gratification by saying “thank you,” explaining clearly the difference a donor makes through his participation, and reporting specific accomplishments as a result of the donor’s gift.

3) Exclusivity. Decidedly low on my ranking of priority, exclusivity comes into play when fundraising efforts include distinguished opportunities for the donor, such as special giving clubs or major-donor programs. Fundraising that plays on exclusivity singles out the donor for special recognition and makes her feel like one of a select few who have come together to accomplish a single purpose.

Successful fundraisers use exclusivity to build strong personal relationships with elite donors.

4) Fear. This is perhaps the strongest motivator of all. Fear is a core trigger of donor behavior, and it’s very visceral. Fear works when there are clearly identified “good guys” and “bad guys” or direct, personal threats aimed at the donor. Fear is best used when you are able to explain the negative consequences of the donor not acting. Fear is a contrasting motivation; it prompts response when the donor can clearly see how his participation will resolve whatever is causing the fear or how his lack of response will make the fear worse.

You may be reacting negatively to this discussion of fear. You may think it’s unfair or somehow inappropriate to play on one’s worst fears. But think carefully about fear.

Fear is a good thing, the same way physical pain can be. If fear weren’t a natural, built-in human emotion, we would find ourselves in trouble. Pain causes us to pull our hand back from the hot stove burner — a good thing. Fear triggers our fight-or-flight impulse, also a good thing. Fear is essential to our survival. The issue, then, is how to ethically and effectively use fear to motivate giving.

Here are a couple of good examples, in my opinion, of appropriate uses of fear in fundraising:

* Health-charity fundraising is almost always based on the fear motivation, either explicitly or by implication. Fear of disease is a very strong factor in health-organization fundraising.

* Environmental fundraising relies on the donor’s fear that valuable natural resources will be lost or severely ruined by unchecked development or neglect, or global warming.

* Political and public-policy fundraising — the most likely area for abuse of the fear motivation — rests squarely on the adherent’s fear that opposing beliefs or policies will prevail in the public square.

* International humanitarian groups know that many of their donors are motivated by the fear that children will suffer or even die from disease and malnutrition.

* Arts organizations keenly play on the fear of their donors that cultural offerings will be limited or that artist expression will be stifled.

* Successful fundraisers won’t be afraid to tap into the natural fears donors have about a wide variety of issues and causes, because they can help those donors resolve their fears by helping to provide practical solutions.

5) Greed. We all like a bargain. We patiently wait to shop until the sales begin. We look for discounts and rebates. We cherish the words “free shipping.” It’s no different in fundraising.

Donors like special campaigns that offer matching-gift funds because they can see their gift double in value. They like so-called leverage opportunities; for example, “Your gift of $25 today will allow us to ship $1,000 worth of food and medicine overseas.” Donors like good deals.

Successful fundraisers work hard to craft campaigns that let donors know the “good deal” they will receive when they give.

6) Guilt. Guilt can be an effective and positive motivator. It can be used to create a sense of obligation.

Many fundraisers mail trinkets and other premiums in acquisition direct-mail appeals to create an environment of reciprocity, hoping the donor will feel an obligation to respond with a gift. Of course, the donor driven solely by reciprocity is often a less valuable donor, so great care must be taken to ensure that your cause also is understood and valued.

The best use of “guilt” is when it is coupled with anger and fear to motivate the donor to do the right thing. Some of the most successful fundraising I have seen has followed significant events that captured widespread public interest, such as the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, the Asian tsunami and recent, devastating U.S. hurricanes. Relief organizations promoted their ability to respond quickly and effectively, implicitly presenting themselves as the donor’s “guilt release channel.”

Successful fundraisers affirmatively use guilt to motivate their donors by showing them how their participation is an extension of themselves. To put it another way, guilt is one side of the coin. The other side is altruism.

Priority ranking
So, there you go. Six key motivators of donor response. So, which motivators are most important?

The more of these motivators you can tap into in your fundraising campaigns, the more successful you will be. Try to incorporate all six. But, some are stronger than the others.

Here’s my priority ranking based on 28 years of nonprofit organization fundraising: anger, fear, greed, ego gratification, guilt and exclusivity. Depending on the circumstances, fear might nudge past anger for first place.

Be careful with your use of anger and fear, however. These motivators are excellent to stimulate initial response, but you can’t live on anger and fear alone. Successful fundraisers will quickly add other motivations to sustain donor participation, such as specific accomplishment reporting and the sharing of future plans that enhance and round out the donor’s initial emotional response.

A good example of how this works takes us back to the political references made earlier in this piece. The public’s anger and fear following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 led to widespread support of President Bush, including strong support for the military invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. But as we saw in the mid-term elections, the public soured when they didn’t see positive accomplishments from these efforts. The president’s “stay the course” message failed to sustain the public’s support, and the Republicans took a beating at the polls. The same will happen when fundraisers rely exclusively on anger and fear to sustain their fundraising programs; initial response will be positive, but sustainability is doubtful.

The next time you develop a fundraising campaign, ask yourself how many of these motivators you are using. The more the better.

Timothy Burgess is co-founder and senior strategist at Seattle-based direct-response fundraising firm Merkle/ Domain. Contact: tim.burgess@merkledomain.com.