Charities and nonprofits are almost wholly funded by the generosity of donations and external funding. Obviously, the more funds they can raise, the further into the future they can plan. That means they’ll be more able to serve the beneficiaries of their causes. So it’s easy to see why fundraising is the essential ingredient to success. In order to accomplish the best outcome from interactions, face to face fundraisers must make instant decisions about what to say and do next. But it’s definitely not easy and one error of judgement can cost the whole pitch! We’ve comprised a list to exchange five face to face fundraising fails for five star fundraising!

Self centered fundraising

Imagine you’re at a party and someone strikes up a conversation with you. It starts pleasantly enough, but you soon realise it’s seriously one sided. All they’re doing is talking about themselves! You try to interject with some thoughts or stories about your own life or opinion, but are either ignored or blocked. You look for your exit as they endlessly drone on about themselves.

Fundraisers should aim to never (ever) be that person!

Any exchange needs to feel good – especially for the donor. With any luck it should be engaging and interesting enough for the donor to want to stick around and listen to.

Make it about the donor.

The ‘grandmother’ tactic is a great tip when approaching a new conversation. Basically, the concept is that fundraisers are as warm and approachable as if they were talking to their own granny. That means removing any formal technical language, applying gentle humour and most of all – be respectful and interested in what their counterpart is saying.

Master fundraising means mindfully taking the time to get to know who they’re talking to and making a genuine connection that feels meaningful.

Why?

Because at the heart of every successful donation is a connection.  

But it’s not just that!

To get someone to want to part with their hard earned money, they must feel comfortable and invested in.

At the end of the day, if you’re going to ask for something from a complete stranger, then establishing a bit about their identity goes a long way.

What’s donor identity?

Donor identity are all the parts that make up a person. Along with personality type, it’s things like gender, religion, what they do for work, whether they’re a parent, their sexuality, hobbies.. anything where they play a role. Identity is also about who they want to be too.  

Learn more about donor identity

Showing interest in what a donor has to say and caring about who they are, gains likeability and trust for sure, but also gives vital information that a fundraiser can use to help shape and personalise their pitch.

• What’s important to them?

• Do they care about your cause or something related to your cause?

• Are they motivated to want to help? Why?  

Simple questions like ‘do you have any experience of…’ invites an opportunity for them to share stories and exchange useful information to go back to. 

Just imagine the difference between a fundraiser that simply rolls off a script and then asks for money, compared to a fundraiser who’s taken the time to learn the donors name, background and relatable identities that could be linked to the cause.

Then imagine they’re made to feel really (really) appreciated.

These are the ingredients that make someone far more likely to become the long term committed donors that charities need.  

The fundraiser message is all rationale and no emotion

The fact is most charitable causes were set up because someone felt a powerful drive to do something to help others.

Driven largely by empathy or compassion, there is no doubt that emotion plays heavily when people decide to get involved with charities.

So in order to stop charitable fundraising feeling like a business transaction, a fundraiser needs to go beyond just reeling off statistics and facts.

Although numbers and figures are an important part of being credible and knowledgeable, the fact is nothing really equates to the humanity and feelings that make people want to act.

For instance, the vast majority of donors don’t look at the expenditure charts on a charity website – what they do do, is read the stories and watch the videos of those that are being helped.

Here’s a perfect example of a powerful video that had incredible impact by our charity partner Macmillan

Story telling works beautifully in face to face fundraising because it brings to life the actual people and animals in need behind the charity brand.

In fact, our charity partners Breast Cancer Now have an entire website page dedicated especially to the stories behind the people who are living with breast cancer.

Choosing stories that are relatable to the donor will have extra impact which is why it’s so important for a f2f fundraiser to take the time to find out who they’re speaking with.

To evoke emotional reaction there are few things as powerful as seeing yourself in someone elses suffering. For example a fundraiser might discover that the person they’re talking to is a parent of teenagers. It might be here they can share a story of someone just like them or someone they might know;

“Tony is just 42 years old but has been living with a rare form of bowel cancer for a decade. Because of the kindness of our donors, Tony has been given the gift of time. The life-lengthening treatment Tony has received because of research paid for by cancer research, has meant he’s been able to see his daughter go to her prom and his son get into the university he wanted. With a monthly gift, you can help save lives and give people like Tony the gift of time”.   

Learn more about how storytelling is a fundraising powerhouse

It’s a really good idea for charity organisations to offer a little bit of choice to the donor to give them some control over the desired outcome.

For instance, allowing a donor to sponsor a child / nurse / dog helps to personify the experience and make specific difference.

Not finding out what motivates the donor

When a person gives, it’s about their wellbeing as well as the beneficiaries

We know what the fundraisers motivation is – to support the charities and to earn a living.

But what is the donor’s motivation?

Are they appeasing a sense of guilt? Do they feel a duty to give? Are they passionate about that cause because of something that’s happened to them? Does giving makes them euphoric in some way?

The reasons people give to charity are actually quite varied:  

• Altruism (moral duty) – Giving because if feels like the ‘right thing to do’

• Ego – Giving because it feels good to them and they like how they appear to others

• Social dynamics – Giving because others around them are

• FOMO –Motivated by the fear of missing out and not belonging

• Relatability – Giving because they ‘know how it feels’

• Trust – Donating because they want to help and feel that an organisation are the best equipped to know what to do

• Impact – Giving because they see the difference their money makes

• Goal setters – Giving because they feel they can help achieve a shared goal

• Martyrdom effect – Giving because they feel someone has ‘earned’ it – through the act of hardship or effort e.g. baking lots of cakes for a charity coffee morning

Learn more about reasons people give to charity

So you can see why it’s a good idea for a fundraiser to try and find out what it is that might be a trigger for their potential donor.

For example, if a donor decides to give out of a sense of duty, then the fundraiser would be wise to spend a lot of time reiterating why giving is the right thing to do.

Another example might be; if a fundraiser asks if a donor knows anyone that’s taken part in the latest marathon and sees a positive response to social dynamics – then focusing on how so many people are contributing might well be the route to the yes.

If a donor is motivated by how giving makes them feel good (a fundraiser could ask if they support any other charities to establish that), then lots of talking about what an incredible thing it is to be a donor would be most effective.  

If the donor confides that they’ve been affected by similar issues, then story telling about someone relatable to them will invariably have much more impact than just reeling off the facts about the charity.

So it’s easy to see that just by paying attention to what might be the motivation can transform the results of fundraising.

Not stressing the difference the donation can make

This really works for almost all the different ‘categories’ of givers but in particular those who need to feel that their donations will make the impact and reach the goals. This means they must be able to trust the charity.

The bottom line is that donors want to feel like they aren’t just throwing money at something.

In this instance, a professional fundraiser should spend some time describing who their charity helps and set the scene about the work they’re doing.

Statistics can and should be interwoven here, with clear indicators about what’s changed because of your charity.

Facts and figures about what the charity has achieved gains trust as well, but again, weaving in real-life stories about the direct impact the funds have made on individuals lives adds power.

Everyone loves a before and after and when a donor can make genuine claim to being a part of the ‘after’ it’s a proud feeling.

Not being prepared

Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.

This doesn’t just apply to the obvious things about charity fundraising jobs - like making sure you have the correct uniform or forgetting to take a pen with you.

Being prepared with relevant knowledge means to be able to give information spontaneously and accurately according to who’s in front of you.

Private site and door to door charity fundraising tips will invariably get picked up along the way, but it’s always worth keeping in the loop with charity news too.

You don’t have to be the font of all knowledge, but being prepared gives confidence – and when you have confidence, your donor will have too.

Being able to call on details about charity events, campaigns and general news positions the fundraiser as a credible expert who’s passionate about their cause.

Charity knowledge also helps with particular objections about trust in the charity sector.  Proper knowledge and statistics will validate and back up anything said in the donor-fundraiser exchange.

Finally, remember that being prepared can even mean a simple thing, like always being prepared to properly thank someone for their time. Donors are 400% more likely to donate again if they’re thanked properly for giving, so fundraisers should consider it their part in ensuring the donor isn’t saying yes now to say no later on.    

Learn more fundraiser tips about how to communicate better with pitching to donors

Are you thinking about a career change?

Or perhaps you’re already a fundraiser and are thinking about a fresh start?

Charity Link offers so much more than the average fundraising agency!

Nationwide charity fundraising jobs are available in full, part-time and flex hours. The job includes plenty of generous bonus and incentive schemes. Other benefits include a free healthcare scheme, perks at work discounts, pension and a death in service plan.

Why not speak to our friendly recruitment team to find out what you might be missing! No experience necessary!