Social Innovations
Old Man Eating
On the frustrating photo that works in fundraising.
You’ve seen this photo before.
It’s the icon of urban rescue mission fundraising. Among rescue mission insiders, he’s “Old Man Eating”—or, if you’ve been in the business for a long time, “OME.” An elderly white male, bearded, sitting at a table and eating. This photo is how you raise money for rescue missions. It works. For decades missions have been testing against it: So far, to my knowledge, it’s unbeatable.
Trouble is, he’s not typical of those served by most rescue missions. And many who work at rescue missions are bored silly with him. Furthermore, if you ask donors to missions whether it’s more important to focus on helping homeless old men or homeless children, they usually tell you children.
Yet donor acquisition efforts that feature pictures of children don’t work. OME outperforms kids every time.
It’s fundraising dissonance. Old Man Eating touches people’s hearts and motivates them to give. Even though he’s not the real picture of the need. Even though these very same donors know that helping younger people is more impactful.
That’s because the decision to give is an emotional one, not a rational one. Emotional triggers, not rational ones, are those that motivate giving. And OME is a potent emotional trigger.
So what are you going to do?
Stubbornly insist on showing the “real” need—and cripple your ability to do your work by decreasing the number of donors who join you? That would be malfeasance.
Spend a zillion dollars trying to “educate” every donor in America about the real problem? That won’t work—anyway, they already know.
No, there’s a better solution: Meet donors where they are—not where you wish they’d be. Put forth the need that motivates them to respond. Then you earn the right to have the conversation with them about what you do, and who you (and they) serve. Those who are ready to move beyond the gut reaction to OME will do just that.
That’s what’s hard about fundraising: If you want to succeed, you have to respect donors—even when they’re “wrong.”
Jeff Brooks is creative director at Merkle|Domain, a direct-response agency serving the nonprofit world. He blogs at the Donor Power Blog.
Big business can join forces with social enterprises to support India’s inclusive growth.
We must invest in the financial literacy of social entrepreneurs and in the social literacy of investors.
Reflections on a discussion about the capacity for continuous innovation in social sector organizations.
An excerpt from Passion & Purpose: Stories from the Best and Brightest Young Business Leaders.
A follow up to the recent post "Some Questions About Udacity."
From the Field Series: A living case study of Makmende, which provides women in Nairobi with coordinated walking groups.
Exploring open spaces, parks, gardens, and trails as tools for social impact.
Universities are the missing link in entrepreneurship.
COMMENTS
BY Martin G. Smith
ON March 8, 2007 04:00 PM
It is not that it is unnecessary to sometimes kick the collective mind into action. However in a recent experience of my own, I set out to raise ‘in kind’ donations for a project coming on line in September 2007.
What I found was that once people, primarily large corporate entities throughout North America, saw the possibilities in the program and the walked out their office door to be confronted by the epidemic [Chrystal Meth] on their streets, they were very forthcoming.
The other sector to come onside has been the academic and OCW/Open Access communities who too, see the potential and certainly the need.
Rather than using a picture akin to OME, I successfully opened their eyes to the reality on their doorstep.
Bias Declared
BY purushothaman pillai
ON March 20, 2007 01:37 AM
it is tricky. On one hand you(one) have to win the donations for the cause, on the other hand, you(one) do not require to cheat the donors; why should we(I)?
I have several photos, I use it to kindle the minds, perhaps, the person will donate when an opportunity comes to needy people!
one a hole in the heart of a building; another daughters building the nation… I am slowly into photography in my profession of construction; some photographs are professional reflections, some are very nasty