Fundraising for charity is never easy. Those who pursue the career of professional fundraiser, being able to communicate well is essential. But what makes good communication? Is it just having the gift of the gab? What are all the ways we communicate with each other? Should we identify the different reasons why people communicate? And what’s the best way for face to face fundraisers to communicate with potential donors?

Why do we communicate?

How many of us think about the purpose of communicating?

Communication exists in almost every living species, primarily for hunting and mating, but human communication is far more diverse and complex.  Fundamentally through the way we communicate, we’re trying to influence others and manage relationships.

Communication isn’t just verbal – we can read, write or use art or body language too. Even the way we smell conveys a message!

When we break it down, there are a few main reasons to communicate:

• To persuade

• To attract

• To exchange information

• To express our emotions

When we know why we’re communicating, we know how to better communicate.  

Who do you think you’re talking to?

Thinking about communication more deeply we realise that it’s a two way street. While we’re busy sending our conscious and subconscious messages outwardly, we’re also receiving them.

If we can simultaneously be aware of both incoming and outgoing messages, it make for a better exchange overall because the recipient feels involved and not just talked at.

The only way we can gain any type of advantage there, is to listen more than we speak and to pay careful attention to responses - verbal and non-verbal.

After all, there’s a reason we have two ears and only one mouth!

For face to face fundraisers, watching and listening for cues from donors requires real skill.

A good face to face fundraiser knows that you don’t talk to all people in exactly the same way either.

For instance, you don’t talk to your boss the same way as you talk to your sibling and you wouldn’t speak to an elderly lady in the same way as you would a young couple.

Taking a moment to try to understanding the mind-set, attitudes and background of those we’re interacting with gives us the best shot at being better communicators.

Here are 8 things to think about to improve the overall way you’re communicating.

Donor segmentation

Donor segmentation means to think generally about what category a potential donor fits in to and have general methods of communication ready for each.

Those categories could include age, location, whether they’re alone or with others, or even their style.

For example, if you begin chatting to someone wearing a particular football shirt, you can assume they like the sport and have instantly got material to connect to them on their level.

By segmenting you’ve got your ice-breaker and can open up a dialogue on the right foot.

Are you getting personal?

Once you’ve made your introduction, learn as much as you can about your donor and make the pitch personal!

An easy win is to always use their name.

Always remember they’re a whole person with all the thoughts, feelings and opinions which will govern their decision

Try to show you’ve listened to anything they’ve told you by referring back to it as you communicate.

The more you can gain insight into what motivates and triggers them, the better chance you stand of getting that ‘yes’.

Aim to make your pitch sound like you’re talking with a friend, making sure your tone of voice is warm, friendly and interesting.

Story telling for fundraisers

Not only does a good story educate and inspire, they can makes you feel things.

Engaging donors with a compelling tale will get their investment emotionally. When someone cares about something, they’re much more likely to invest financially as well.

For fundraising storytelling, talk about individual people. Talk about their need. Give a backstory and add details that make them relatable

‘David is a lovely dad and has been married to his wife Claire for five years. They were like any normal family, raising their two young children together and walking their dog Pooch. Last year David realised he’d been feeling tired for weeks - even though he’d been trying to get to bed on time and cut out caffeine. Eventually he went to see his doctor who sent him for some tests. David was devastated to be diagnosed with bowel cancer and thought his life was over aged just 36’.

Then it’s time to relay how your charity stepped in as the hero by offering solutions in a time of crisis. Be sure to make donors part of the story by emphasising that help was only possible with the help of the incredible donors that regularly give.

Read our blog on how to cultivate great story-telling in fundraising

A successful conversation

We’ve all had those conversations where we’re being talked ‘at’ and are looking for the closest exit.

Worse still are the exchanges where both parties’ completely misunderstand each other and it feels tense and unnatural.

When we think about good conversation it’s usually because it’s been educational, entertaining, easy and naturally flows. Each party bounces off the other without one being overbearing.

When you know you’ve made the connection, the whole conversation will be more meaningful and  you’ve a much better chance of gaining the support you’re looking for.

Failure to communicate well simply means you’ve not been able to clearly get your message across and it hasn’t achieved the desired outcome.

The good news is, there’s always opportunity to learn with every exchange. With experience we learn that when we change and adapt our approach, we can definitely change the outcome!

Measuring success

When we think about what a successful fundraising conversation, it’s tempting to measure it entirely according to whether the donor says yes to lng term donations.

But is that all a successful fundraising conversation is about?  

It’s important to remember that, from the perspective of the charity, if a fundraiser has educated someone about the cause (and who might even go on to share what they’ve learned), it’s still a success regardless.

The ask

It’s always tricky trying to converse when the other person knows you’re ‘after’ something.

The truth is you can’t really hide from the fact that ‘the ask’ is a necessity of the fundraisers job. But that’s not to say you can’t have a good journey on the way.

The key to the ask is to look out for the moment when something you’ve said resonates with the potential donor. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know how to use that nugget to create a path to the request.

It’s up to the fundraiser to work out when that ‘moment’ is and this is where they need their emotional intelligence the most.

People buy from people

Likability is the number one reason to sway a person from saying no to saying yes.

Even the most worthy of causes won’t get the donations it needs if the person asking makes a bad impression.

Ultimately fundraising is a type of selling. To be good at selling, you must master the three key elements:

• To be known

• To be liked

• To be trusted

To be known is the easy bit! You can simply introduce your charity in a sentence or more:  

“I’m representing Guide Dogs UK today, who are a charity that help those living with blindness to live more independently by providing trained service dogs. Have you heard of us before?”

To be liked is all about tending to who you’re talking to – be interested and engaged in what they’re saying and always be positive and pleasant to interact with.

That means making sure you’re not saying anything that could be deemed as confrontational, disagreeable or rude. Be the type of person that makes others feel good to be around.

To be trusted is possibly the most difficult of the three components.

In the short time you have with each donor, the way to earn trust means simply to be clear and straightforward and to back up what you’re saying with facts.

Watch out for information overload

When you’re an expert on a topic, it’s easy to get carried away and share everything you know.

But try to bear in mind that most people have low concentration spans, especially when they haven’t chosen the subject matter!

Tempting though it might be to show off all your knowledge on your charity, keep it simple and refocus on the donor instead.

By working out early what motivates them, you can handpick the right information to give that will trigger the response you want.

Knowing what to share

Ask questions related to your charity – for instance fundraising for a dog rescue charity an ideal question would be to ask ‘do you have any dogs?’ If they say yes, you immediately know they’re going to empathise with dogs in need.

If they say no, then you can simply ask ‘are you a fan of dogs?’ to help you gage if they’re someone who might be interested in helping. After all, if the answer is no, you are probably wasting your time but if it’s yes, you can ask questions about their pet to gain likeability and trust.

Communicate with confidence and back up what you’re saying with a couple of well-chosen facts about the impact your charity has already made.

Try to ask open ended questions that invite conversation to flow naturally, as well as helping identify any connections from your charity to their lives.

Remember; Relatable stories about real people work much better than reeling off a load of impersonal data.

An example might be:

‘How do you feel about the new drug for breast cancer that’s just been given the green light?’ which clearly leads on to a chance to share success stories about women whose lives have been prolonged by the drug and how campaigning and donations have helped make that happen.

Some examples of open ended questions might start with:

• Tell me about…

• What do you think of….

• How do you feel about…

• Why do you think we need help with…

Keep fundraising dignified

So what is the best way to communicate with someone who lacks empathy and isn’t bothered about your cause?

You will always come across people who simply don’t care about your cause. If that much is clear, the advice here is to close the communication down politely and promptly.

The bottom line is that you can’t make a person care, no matter how much you say or do.  

Rejection and objection is just a part of a charity fundraising job.

Giving off negativity or making passive aggressive statements about what could happen if you don’t get donations is a big no-no.

Even when you get objections that you don’t believe or like, let it roll away like water off a ducks back and reset ready for the next interaction.

Read about successful objection handling tips for fundraisers

That said, if you do sense a person could be compassionate then keep it dignified and never plead or beg!

Rather than trying to make a person feel responsible for another’s problems, frame your organisation as being the solution.

Make your donors the heroes of the story who have the power to change lives!

Donors want to feel like they’re joining a strong unit who are making strides towards real change, not a weakened organisation who haven’t made the right choices.

Be like the cow…

And on that note, try to create a herd mentality about your charity.

Herd mentality is recognising that humans are herd animals - we like to belong!

Religion, music fans, football teams… Joining something that’s bigger than us and knowing the people in that community hold the same values as you is based on the instinct we have to find our tribe and ultimately feel safer.

We can utilise this in fundraising by creating a sense of comradery for donors.

Sharing photos, success stories and particularly stories about other donors all helps to communicate a sense of unity, with everyone pushing for better. together

Believe in what you’re doing

Finally, be proud of the job you do!

It’s one of the toughest things to do and any progress is good progress.

Like anything, it can take months to truly learn the ropes and get comfortable with the role of professional fundraiser.

It’s important to stay humble, to be open to learning (and relearning) and let any sense of failure or rejection just melt away.

Never ever apologise of feel bad about asking for money to help people, animals or the environment. See this job as a vital way to get funds to those that need it.

Recognise the incredible importance of what you’re doing – the number of donors you’re getting and how that equates to real help for your charity. Fundraiser work is making that difference and nobody can take that sense of pride away.

Before you know it, you won’t just ‘be’ a fundraiser, you’ll realise you ‘are’ a fundraiser

Read our blog – Fundraising is not something you do, it’s who you are’

Are you interested in the role of professional fundraiser?

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