Are You Getting Emotional with Your Donors?

The Donor Attraction Letter

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Welcome to the inaugural issue of The Donor Attraction Letter!

Today we’re going to dive in with something that’s vital for success with attracting and keeping and up-leveling your donors.

It’s this simple truth:

People make purchase decisions based on emotions.

And when a donor gives money to your organization, she's essentially purchasing something. Your donor absolutely wants her gift to do good things for those you serve—she's definitely in search of that with her donation.

But, she’s also looking for an emotional experience.

And it’s those emotions you stir up in your donor that take center stage when it comes to getting her to click on your donate page after seeing a particularly poignant story in an email, for instance.

When deciding to part with their money, whether it’s buying a pair of shoes or giving to charity, research tells us that people listen first to their feelings (“I feel so moved by this family’s story”) and then use rational thought to justify the decision (“And I like that my $100 gift will provide 100 meals to homeless people at Thanksgiving”).

One of my favorite quotes from Seth Godin helps underscore the “why” behind giving rather nicely, I think:

“We support a charity because it gives us a chance to love something about ourselves.”

Think, for a moment, about why you give.

And think about your favorite charity.

Chances are good that you not only love the cause, but you’re probably also getting a high emotional return on investment for your giving.

So, to be super successful with building strong donor relationships that inspire generous giving from your donors, remember:

People decide to give because they’re looking for the positive feelings of love, joy, belonging, purpose, importance and happiness that giving brings to them.

And the best part is that you can be that bright light in your donors’ otherwise harried and hectic world. It’s what she’s looking for deep in her heart.

TIPS TO HELP YOU TAP INTO DONORS’ EMOTIONS

A lot goes into building a donor communications strategy that delivers on making strong emotional connections throughout the year with your donors.

Here are some tips to help get you thinking and taking action:

• If your website, newsletters, appeals and emails go on and on about your organization—without much focus on your donor and how she is making all of your great work possible—making your communications more donor-centric is priority #1.
• Are you effectively using proven emotional triggers like hope, love, compassion, duty, faith, fear, flattery, anger, exclusivity, guilt and salvation in your writing? Your fundraising communications should be bursting with emotion using triggers like these.
• Are you getting full emotional impact from powerful photos used in your communications? Investing time and resources in building a photo library that helps you create the right feelings in your donors is a worthy endeavor that will help you raise more money.
• Are you surprising and delighting your donors in emotionally relevant ways? One idea: Friend your donors on Facebook, know their birthdays and send them sincere notes wishing them well on their special day.

The big takeaway is this:

More emotional deposits with your donors = more and larger donations over time

Getting emotional is where it’s at for smart, savvy nonprofits that want to connect deeply with their donors and give them the emotional experience they’re looking for.

Thanks for reading and please contact me anytime with feedback or questions.

Dedicated to helping you attract and keep your donors,

Jen Viano
Nonprofit Writer/Consultant
Editor, The Donor Attraction Letter

PS: Learn more about donor attraction + retention and how you can work with me to get better at awakening your donors' emotions (and get them giving!) with writing and consulting services that I offer.

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