Delivering the Case for Support to Prospects

My observation is that a great many charities give too little thought to delivering their case for support to their donors and prospects on a consistent, persistent and frequent basis.

For one thing, everyone seems to want to do this by remote control, so to speak. There’s the website and the newsletter and the email blast, and then folks stop because those are the easily automated ways of communicating.

But what do they typically do with those communications pieces? They write newsletter articles from their own viewpoint, not that of a donor or prospect. They write the website copy as if everyone visiting the site had the perspective of the executive director of the organization. Navigation generally suffers, too, on that count. You can’t find your way around the charity’s site unless you think like a nonprofit administrator! And the e-blasts come across as if the only thing a recipient donor or prospect had on their mind is that particular charity’s need.
So there are actually three issues here: first, the content of the communications that charities choose to put out there; second, the need to broaden and deepen the communication channels necessary to effectively get the case for support out to the people who can help the charity through financial support; third the definition of “case for support.”

Let’s start with the last one first, so we know what we’re talking about before we discuss how to get the CFS to the people who count.

The Case for Support, as I have come to understand it from a donor’s point of view, is a set of reasons why donors should support a charity. Mostly what I see happening out there in the real world is that charities want to make their case for support a list of their programs, and a statement of why they sorely need funds to accomplish their mission. But as tempting as I know that is to do, it nevertheless makes a donor‘s or a prospect’s eyes glaze over. This constant recitative of our programs and who they serve and down to the nth detail of what we do…. This is NOT a case for support, in my opinion. It is just a list of programs.

But there’s no motivation in it, nothing compelling, unless you read between the lines and understand that, for example, the reason we have this safe house is that there’s a maniac out there trying to get to Melissa to kill her, and we’re standing between Melissa and certain mayhem or death. Now THAT’s compelling. But nobody says it that way, of course.
So, let’s take it a step at a time. What are the reasons why anybody should give to ABC Charity? Well, one would think that the best reasons to give would have something to do with the reasons donors do, in fact, support the charity. Here is a list of the reasons donors typically give to charity:
1. The charity has a long-standing history in the community, a squeaky clean image, and is getting great results with their programs.

2. The charity is accomplishing something remarkable that the donor wants to get done in the community, or in society at large.

3. There is a crisis or an opportunity in the community that the charity is addressing so that the donor can see the crisis is clearly resolved or the opportunity is clearly being met.

4. The charity has a definite plan for meeting the opportunity or resolving the crisis and the plan is both workable and “ironclad and copper-bottomed.”

5. The charity needs a defined amount of contributed cash to support this effort over a defined amount of time.

6. The charity needs the donor’s gift, and cannot, in fact, do the job without that support, which donors are asked to give.

7. The result of making a gift to the charity is that the donor will be thanked and recognized for their support.

8. Those who donate to this effort will be considered “one of the family” and will be kept up-to-date on how their money is being used and the results it is bringing in the community.

Now, can we take the reasons why people give money to charity and transform them into a case for support that meets the donor’s needs rather than just meeting the needs of the charity’s administrators? And why is this so important?