To the Point: You Talk, Donors Listen

So what's a fundraiser to do? The solution is to understand how your audience's minds work — and adjust your communications accordingly. You have a better chance of success with this approach than you ever have in trying to get your audience to see the world — and your message — as you do.

Small, not big
People understand the world on a personal scale. They can relate to a hungry person more easily than they can relate to hunger on a global level. They're more motivated to act by one man's struggle with homelessness than they are by the fact that an estimated 100 million people worldwide are homeless. People focus on what they can grasp. The bigger the scale of what you're communicating, the smaller the impact on your audience.