I recently gave a presentation on the principles of support-driven fundraising at the United Way in Newark.
Interesting enough, not a lot of the attendees knew too much about the concept or online fundraising tools available. In addition, concepts like storytelling, messaging, and objectives were not common in their fundraising planning.
To me, the most important lessons for an audience that can be summarized into three points.
1. Set objectives that are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and timely. See this blog post for more info.
2. Develop a compelling story by distilling your mission into one remarkable idea. Donors will get confused if you dilute the message with too many things. We’ll post our own series on this topic soon.
3. Iterate. Don’t be afraid to get it wrong. People get paralyzed when they are afraid to make mistakes. Fear shouldn’t prevent you from trying new messaging and creative fundraising approaches. Try and revise until it’s perfect.
