When is emotion too much in charity fundraising?
If you’ve ever donated to charity, you’ll probably be able to say why you made the decision to do so. We know from experience and research that there are many reasons people give, such as having a sense of moral duty or feeling like you can personally relate to a cause. Regular donors to charitable causes often choose to do so because they believe their gift will make a difference. But to what extent do emotions come into play when people become donors? Is it simply about how kind they are on some kind of compassion-richter-scale, or is it because a fundraiser has ‘sold’ the idea well? We take a deeper dive into how emotional impact can increase and decrease the likelihood of donations.
The desire to act
When charity fundraisers are trying to get people to donate, volunteer, sign a petition or attend a charity event, they know the decision must come from a place of desirability. In other words, people have to want to do it. Unlike essential purchases that people need and have to make - like food or paying energy bills - charitable giving only happens because people want to.
And in order for fundraisers to stoke that desire, the donor must feel moved in some way.
The urge to do things like subscribing to a newsletter or signing a petition could be attributed to a sense of egoism (it’s not that big of a deal being free, easy and feel-good). But asking someone to dig into their pocket to part with hard earned cash takes a different type of motivation.
Read more about the reasons people give to charity
Emotional responses to charity appeals
It’s fair to say that for the vast majority, emotional responses almost entirely outweigh intellectual ones. This is simply because we’re built to feel before we think.
This is brilliantly explained in the chimp paradox theory, which demonstrates how our emotional brain takes control of situations and responses unless we make a deliberate decision to think rationally. You can read more about that here
When we think about responding emotionally to requests from charity, we’re led purely by our feelings about a topic. It’s often about a gut-wrenching, nerve touching, tangible urge to act. This is not wishy washy or abstract, it’s a certainty that we want to do something to make change.
It’s precisely this reaction that charities aim to provoke. They have worked out that by appealing to someone’s emotional brain and telling personal stories rather than delivering cold hard facts, they’re much more likely to compel the donor to action.
For instance instead of saying:
‘Please donate because we need to rehome as many dogs as possible’
It’s more effective to say:
‘Giving money means that healthy dogs like Rover stand a chance at happiness again after his awful mistreatment. Please help save this little ones life from any more suffering or unnecessary euthanasia. He’s depending on people like you’.
Or another example might be;
‘Help feed hungry children by donating today’
You could say
‘5 year old Nadim wants to be a teacher when he grows up. He dreams of a life where he doesn’t have to think about where his next meal is coming from. With your help, Nadim can spend his days playing and growing into the healthy boy he deserves to be’.
Indeed, the gravity of the right story can have great impact for our charities.
Save the Children’s ‘No Child Born to Die’ campaign centred around exactly that. By showcasing individual’s plight along with their humanity and their aspirations, enabled donors to get up close and personal. As interim chief executive of Save the Children, Tanya Steele said at the time
“If we can tell the story in a way that grips someone emotionally, then we know we have a chance of them hopefully considering supporting our cause.”
Behavioural economist and president of emotional insights consultancy ‘Sensory Logic’ Dan Hill entirely agrees with the philosophy of emotional giving.
In a presentation in 2013 called ‘Irrational Fundraising; The power to read supporter’s minds’ , he said people were primarily emotional decision makers. He said
‘it’s how the brain is wired – emotional responses dictate how successful you are at asking for money’.
He went on to say that to get people to think is not what leads to behaviour change – “none of that will happen unless you make an emotional connection”.
An example was given about a fundraising campaign for children in Africa. While an emotion driven story resulted in an average £1.47 donation, those based on facts and educational statistics drew 71 pence.
A combination approach using both rational and emotion resulted in average donations of 89p.
And research by London’s Institute of Practitioners in Advertising mirrored his theory, showing that adverts with a deliberate emotional pull were twice as profitable as those with a rational foundation.
“If you want to be successful at fundraising, the more you make people think, the less they feel; and the less they feel, the less they are motivated to give”
As a side note, Hill also makes some excellent observations about the impact of facial expressions. From his 20 years of research, he highlights how by being aware of minor changes around the forehead and eyes to demonstrate disgust or sadness, meant a desire to make change.
Hill emphasises that just through clever awareness, face to face fundraisers can quickly decipher whether someone would be a willing donor or not.
So should fundraisers just focus on emotion and not fact?
Despite the strong evidence that story telling and emotions are the perfect combination, it’s important not to go overboard.
For example, a pretty bland (but safe) approach might be to appeal with
Children’s health begins with vaccines, please give to ensure as many children have a chance to thrive
An excessively emotional appeal might be
Elijah and thousands of other children like him will die a painful slow death from Malaria, gasping for breath as he lays emaciated and desperate… unless you care.
The Fundraising Code of Practice specifically say fundraisers should avoid laying it on too thick. Causing distress or anxiety tends to make people retreat and have the opposite of the desired effect.
The code says of fundraiser behaviour:
“You and the fundraising materials you use must not mislead anyone, or be likely to mislead anyone, either by leaving out information or by being inaccurate or ambiguous or by exaggerating details”
And of standards which apply to specific fundraising methods:
”Your marketing communications must not contain anything that is likely to cause fear or distress without a justifiable reason. If you can justify it, the fear or distress likely to be caused must not be excessive.
You must not use a claim or image that some people may find shocking merely to attract attention. If you use images that some people may find shocking, you should give warnings about this material.”
Read more about the fundraising code of practice here
So how much emotion IS too much?
Obviously charities must be honest at all times, but it comes down to whether the audience find it palatable. We know there genuinely are horror stories about people dying from preventable diseases and the suffering as a consequence of human rights violations and war. We know that animals are tortured and neglected.
But while controversy does have impact, repeatedly and deliberately shocking and attempting to upset people won’t work in the long term.
Guilt can be a powerful motivator but that’s not to say it engages people. Author of ‘The Influential Fundraiser’ Bernard Ross said
“It’s a knee-jerk response… And then it becomes a contest of how emaciated you can make a child look. Like any drug, you have to turn up the emotion to get a reaction. Short term, the emotive stuff works, long-term it eats itself and becomes counter productive”.
It’s a good point. Apathy is surely a charities worst enemy. The more charities bombard people with the terrible realities, the more numb an audience can become and the more likely they are to turn a blind eye.
The bottom line is to remain respectful when trying to solicit donations and never aim to manipulate with emotional blackmail. If charities can develop a good foundation of trust, then it’s far more likely an audience will stop to listen.
“Fundraising is most successful when it’s based on establishing good relationships with donors and developing a bond of trust between the charity and the donor”
So how do we find the right balance with emotion and face to face fundraising?
Of course, there is a middle man approach between the two extremes of guilt-tripping and keeping strictly to the facts. It’s important not to think that using emotion is somehow unethical.
The ultimate fundraising goal has to be to understand that emotion has its place and with skill can be applied in a fair but effective way.
In 2017, Fundraising innovators ‘Sofii’ released findings on a study they’d done called ‘The positives and negatives of emotional fundraising’.
Here, they recognised that while negative emotions like anger, guilt or sadness can help to bring home the importance of a problem, it’s positive emotions like hope and empathy-altruism that create the drive to act.
But how does that translate in professional fundraising?
Using excessive horror stories, guilt tripping and so called ‘poverty porn’ can not only create a sense of disconnect and numbness, it can be borderline offensive.
Its important to meet the needs of the donor which may well mean that, rather than over saturating them with the harsh truth, a positive-negative emotional approach could be the way forward.
By appealing to opposite sides of the emotional spectrum; fear with courage, guilt with hope, pain with benevolence, we might just find we kill two birds with one stone. We get donors attention and sympathy, but we hand the power over to them to decide what’s next.
Once we have lit the fire of outrage at an injustice, we can stoke it with comradery and determination to make it right.
Appeals should be filled with passion and power, offering a wide range of things donors can connect to in all their complexity.
8 face to face fundraiser tips for effectively use emotion in fundraising
Above all, donors need to feel good about giving. Fundraisers should compliment and praise generosity and speak highly of donors in general
Herd mentality goes a long way. Humans seek out others who feel and act like they do for validation. Fundraisers should aim to create a ‘community’ that cares about their cause – such as ‘dog lovers’ or ‘compassionate people’.
Guilt tripping is not okay and will only ever result in short term gain, if any. Rather, f2f fundraisers should work on using positive emotions such as hope and ‘hand the power’ to the donor to make the happy ending possible
Remember that it’s common for people to give as a way to show they’re ‘good’ which is different to them genuinely caring about a cause. Asking a donor if they have supported other charities and noting the ‘why’ is a great way to gage how to move forwards with your own request
Gratitude and appreciation are essential. The more thoughtful and heartfelt the thanks, the more loyalty the donor will have moving forward
Mistakes such as not remembering the donors name or ignoring details they’ve given is an own goal. Pay attention to everything the donor says and respond personally, not generically, because this is what helps them feel like they matter
Emphasise the difference their gift will make. Make sure you tell them what their donation does and who it affects.
Recognise when someone isn’t ‘feeling it’ and try a simple switch to a more factual pitch. Sometimes, you might just appeal to their logical brain instead
Ask them if they have any questions and be sure to answer exactly what they’ve asked.
It’s important that fundraisers understand the potential donors in front of them and try to gage their needs rather than impressing a pre-recorded script on to them. That means carefully listening!
The truth of the matter is that no single message will resonate with everyone. A carefully thought- out opening question could help establish whether a fundraiser should go for ‘heart’ or ‘mind’ type of pitch. Having both prepared would make a professional fundraiser even more savvy.
But whatever the approach, to appeal to anyone’s best nature and make that deep felt request means to bring honest and open communication to the table.
To gain respect and trust by presenting the story of those you’re representing. With most charitable causes, there doesn’t need to be over the top exaggeration – the recipient’s stories should already have enough behind them for the right people to want to engage.
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