Social Innovations
Marketing to Donors
Three take-away tips on nonprofit fundraising from maketing guru Seth Godin.
Ideas that spread win. Period. This is true for nonprofits, politics, and business, said Seth Godin. 
Sliced bread was invented in 1913 by Otto Frederick Rohwedder. He took out a patent, built a factory, and waited for the orders to come in. Well, not many orders came in. It wasn’t until 1930 when Wonder Bread started packaging and marketing pre-sliced bread that it became a success, said Godin.
This was one of the entertaining and enlightening examples of marketing successes and flops that Seth Godin presented at a fantastic one-day seminar that I recently attended. Seth Godin is a marketing guru, author of books like the Purple Cow and founder of www.squidoo.com, a Wikipedia-like community that raises money for charity. His seminars in New York are targeted at both for-profits and nonprofits. (He comps select nonprofits. Thanks Seth!)
How marketing is done today leaves a lot of room for improvement. According to Godin, mass advertising no longer works. For instance, Procter & Gamble spends $5 billion a year “interrupting people with messages that they don’t want.” And in an age in which we have thousands of internet and media outlets, it’s too expensive to try to put your message in front of enough people. Plus, by now, people are desensitized to advertising and don’t want to be advertised to. The old “interruption” model of marketing no longer works.
What to do if you are a nonprofit with a worthy message to get out?
1. Nonprofit fundraisers should realize that they are in a “feel good” industry. And this is true of for-profits, too. Tiffany’s doesn’t sell jewelry; it sells the aura and ooh and ahh feelings associated with the blue Tiffany box. In Godin’s words, “Just as no one needs bottled water, no one needs to donate.” So think about how your marketing can focus on how you make your donors feel.
2. Stop using interruption marketing. Marketing should be like looking for a mate. You don’t go into a bar and pop the question to strangers. You meet strangers; you turn strangers into friends; friends become girl/boyfriends, and so on. Permission cuts through the clutter, said Godin. And permission is earned over time.
I think most nonprofits understand his point that relationships take time to nurture. It’s just hard sometimes when your nonprofit is desperate for money and every investment banker you meet looks like a walking wallet. I know that direct mail does work for many nonprofits, but there’s an awful lot of waste involved, and people get irritated by the avalanche of fundraising letters that arrives around November.
Godin used Google adwords as an example of non-interruption advertising. Advertisers reach out to their targets at a point in which the consumer is searching for information. The ads are relevant to his/her search.
3. Learn from the church. Godin asked a great question: Why does such a large portion of donations go to the Church? First, people have given the Church permission to ask for money; they choose to show up every week. Second, givers are prompted to give by the people around them. Giving becomes a social requirement. Godin suggests using this effect in fundraising. Nonprofits should get people around a table, go around the table, and have each person commit to what he/she will give.
Seth Godin has A LOT more to say. If you can make it to his next seminar in New York, go! Check his blog for dates: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/
Please share your tips and experience below…
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COMMENTS
BY Brittany
ON January 12, 2007 10:19 AM
Another way non-profits can raise money or inspire more donors is to inspire the people who already donate. Many current supporters already feel a connection with the non-profit and would be more than willing to help out if they had the tools to do so. Firstgiving.com is a company that gives the average person the resources to adovocate for a non-profit. Fundraisers can set up their own online fundraising page that they can personalize and then send to all of their online network via email or through their blog. Fundraisers get excited about this tool because they can easily reach a lot of their friends and families with little effort AND they tend to raise more money. Chez Pim, a well known food blog, recently raised over $60,000 dollars for the World Food Programme using a firstgiving page!
BY Nancy Schwartz
ON January 12, 2007 11:05 AM
Charity Badges, available via Network for Good at https://www.networkforgood.org/pca/PcaLandingPage.aspx are a another great way to put donors (and volunteers, members, clients) to work fundraising.
Perla, on your point on the success of congregational giving—that’s a great example of social proof. Turns out we’re all highly susceptible to being influenced by our peers and those we look up to. We find ourselves particularly open to influence when we’re not absolutely sure of the right action. Making the assumption that those around us know something, we act as they do.
Master direct marketer Robert Cialdini introduced the Social Proof concept in his fabulous marketing bible, Influence.
BY Peter Deitz
ON January 12, 2007 12:42 PM
FirstGiving and NetworkforGood are only two of several websites that enable individuals to raise money on behalf of organizations they support. I recently wrote up an article summarizing the field. Have a look…
How to Use the Internet for Group Fundraising
http://www.first-of-its-kind.org/site/how-to-use-the-internet-for-group-fundraising
PS—I am a subscriber and big fan of SSRI. I’m posting this link because I think it’s quite relevant to the two comments above and to Seth Godin’s concept of permission marketing.
BY purushothaman pillai
ON January 13, 2007 05:55 AM
The giving!
Only recently it struck me that philanthropy is also like debt funding ( as convergence idea), if only you know your banker better, you get the fund. When it comes to philanthropy, there is scarcity of funds; it is very personal; want to make sure it reaches.. if we understand a banker so also the philanthropist, perhaps we get the funding, provided we are true to his/her expectations; after all both the giver and the agent want the fund to be applied with the same end results.. This gives me a very great relief that fund raising is not that tough
continued in next comment
BY purushothaman pillai
ON January 13, 2007 06:05 AM
As a professional, I was considering that why should I beg for money; I must generate funds on my own; although, I see good prospects for the same, now, I have understood that I am seeking money for a rightful cause where minds and intentions meet, goal congruence is there
BY Margie C. Sweeney, M.D., SFO
ON January 14, 2007 08:33 PM
I am thankful for Perla’s comments and the subsequent posts w/ web links. As the founder and president of a small volunteer-run nonprofit organization (http://hhhm.net), I am always looking for ways to raise funds. In this effort, I have learned the value of making a connection with donors. We do not have a marketing or advertising budget to get the word out about the work that we are doing and the funds needed to accomplish that work. Developing a relationship with donors goes a long way in aquiring the needed funds and establishing genuine interest in helping others less fortunate than ourselves. Thanks to all for the insights!
BY purushothaman p
ON January 15, 2007 09:47 AM
some thoughts on an ancient poem in Tamil
I mean the kuRaL as saying that even the monks and saints learn as if they can not earn the wealth what they seek for the poor from the rich, that way learning, they stand out as first as compared to the one who do not seek such learnings.. so this gives me direction that I have to seek philanthropy in correct perspective, it is not me, not my ego or the professional ego that should come and stop mobilizing the fund required; the fund is required to support the needy
BY edward lin
ON January 16, 2007 11:17 AM
this article is very interesting. we are just developing our marketing strategy and this is going to really influence how we do it.
ed
BY Mary Alex-Needham
ON January 17, 2007 11:40 AM
Mahatma Gandhi once said, “If the cause is right the means will come.” I definitely think there’s some truth to what Gandhi said but I agree with Godin that there needs a bit of a “push” with more effective fundraising/marketing.
Over the last ten years the philanthropic playing field has become more fierce and the competition for dollars more brutal. With that said, leaders in the “third-sector” need to understand that as time goes on, the Gates’ and the Buffett’s of the world will infuse even more “for-profit norms and expectations” into the not-for-profit arena. No better way for nonprofits to be prepared for this “paradigm shift” than to understand how to micro-target the donors who best “fit” the organization’s mission. At the end of the day, fundraising is a values-based business and there’s nothing better then watching values collide between donors and a mission through strategic marketing know-how.
BY Emad Rahim
ON February 15, 2007 07:46 AM
I found everything that was expressed in the blog about nonprofit marketing to be so true. As nonprofit representative, I am fiscally responsible for my agency. I am consistently looking for new more innovative ways to raise capital and partnerships. During my interviews with marketing vendors I found many of their ideas unrealistic. Their approach to selling my fundraisers or membership drive to the public some what tainted, mostly by not being aware of the dynamics between nonprofits and for-profits. There are so many marketing programs at university that only teach a narrow view of the discipline with very little practice especially when we talk about nonprofit marketing. Many do not know how to distinguish the difference between raising money and making money.
BY Terri Blair
ON February 24, 2007 11:31 AM
I’ve just found Stanford Social Innovation, and am delighted. As an innovator in human services in New Jersey, specializing in
strengthening families and communities, I want to make sure that my efforts to present a collaborative blog that engages the
innovative energies of for & nonprofits, grassroots organizations & businesses etc. that serve NJ families does not duplicate anything
already in existence. So far my research online has turned up nothing. Are you aware of anything I’m missing? Input would be greatly
appreciated.
BY Emad Rahim
ON February 24, 2007 07:02 PM
Terri,
Many HS organizations are using blogs and even Myspace.com to promote their services and information. Many nonprofit trade Associations or also using blogs to share information with their members and develop new information through research and opinion produced by the blog. I don’t think you have anything to worry when it comes to developing a blog for their organizations as long as you keep the content original. I just started a blog for my organization to filter training information: www.unity-house.blogspot.com
BY thirstyfish
ON February 28, 2008 03:57 PM
Yes, Seth is spot on. Its ironic that nonprofits struggle to tell their story - when the sector is built upon emotional capital. Its emotion that brings a story to life. Not the “guilt-ridden appeal” version, but sincere authentic emotion that people can relate to.
Find out what motivates and connects your donors to what you do. In many cases, donors give because of a personal and intimate connection to the issue - a relative who’s suffered from the issue (e.g. breast cancer) or a life formative experience (e.g. peace corps service in Nigeria) that emotionally binds a person to the cause. Nonprofits can learn a lot by taking the time to step back and listening to the stories that their donors tell about their cause. You might be surprised by what you hear.
Michael Margolis
BY dstoker
ON February 28, 2008 10:26 PM
I recently started at internship at Ashoka with their Citizen Base and they are finding and espousing the same trends that Seth mentions. They even use a church community as the primary illustration of a citizen base. (a “citizen base” being like a “fan base” of a sports team or that church community).
Ashoka has been collecting examples of nonprofits that have creatively used these kind of strategies for more effective marketing and more integrated engagement/targeted identification of constituencies. One pattern I see is targeted partnerships. Instead of applying for grants from every available source they identify those that would have that “feeling” to get involved and partner, sometimes it means targeting individual donors, sometimes partnerships with corporations, sometimes it means having a large volunteer base, sometimes it means charging membership dues for participants, the point being that each organization has a unique mission and therefore unique partners and unique fits for effective marketing. I think we are seeing a major shift in the way the social sector engages with the public.
BY Redhotfundraisingideas
ON March 5, 2008 09:03 AM
I’ve read many of Seth’s columns. As usual, these are good tips for Fundraising. Good job.
BY Dave Hughs
ON March 5, 2008 09:22 PM
I love “giving becomes a social requirement” under learn from the church. There’s one more important point missing from this list: Make sure your donors feel appreciated - even if it’s a social requirement you need let them know that you recognise how valuable their contribution is.
http://www.redhotfundraisingideas.com/fundraising/49/show-donors-you-appreciate-them/
There are some excellent ideas here courtesy of Red Hot Fundraising Ideas:
There are a number of things you can do to express appreciation to donors on an ongoing basis. Sending periodic letters, newsletters, and email updates can be a simple and effective way to keep the people who fund your group’s activities informed about the progress your group is making. Recognition is also an important part of maintaining positive relations with your donors. Be sure to provide recognition to those who fund your efforts in your marketing materials.
BY Shawn
ON January 17, 2010 12:54 AM
I am working on a team to develop SponsorChange.org’s donor campaign. This article is extremely helpful. It has helped me develop ideas to increase donor participation within our organization. Our cause is to increase civic engagement among young professionals by helping staff nonprofit organizations. In return volunteers receive direct student loan payments from donors as reward for their service. If anyone has any suggestions or can provide any insight, please feel free to share.