Dreams and Fears of Donors
I am a big fan of Seth Godin. When I have a free moment, I enjoy perusing his blog for insightful marketing and human behavior commentary. A couple of weeks ago he was discussing the idea that people only take important action based off of two concepts: Dreams and Fears.
Seth defines the two concepts as:
Fear: Of being ashamed, feeling stupid, being rejected, being left out, getting hurt, being embarrassed, left alone, dying.
Dreams: Of being seen, being needed, becoming independent, relieving anxiety, becoming powerful, making someone proud, fitting in, seen as special, mattering, taken care of, loved.
As fundraisers we tend to get caught up in the needs of our organization and not the fears and dreams of our supporters. To motivate donors to take action, you will need to provide multiple messages connecting their fears and dreams to your organization.
Keys to connecting to your donors:
- Listen to what your supporters are saying to you. Respect the donor’s wants, even when they don’t want to hear from you.
- Segment donors based on certain criteria that will align their dreams and fears with your organization.
- Track the outcomes of your messaging in a donor database, such as MatchMaker FundRaising Software. By tracking and measuring the results of your messages, you will better understand the dreams and fears of your donors.