40 • F I L M/ T EL EV I S I ON FUN DR AISIN G
It’s all about
CONNECTION
What do donors want as opposed to what do we want them to want? Peter Muffett explores the benefits of values-based offers and making a move to restricted funding.
W
ho is the most important person in fundraising? Is it the most influential practitioner in the fundraising world or the beneficiary? The most prolific consultant on social media or the board director who gets fundraising? I know my dad thinks it’s me but, sorry, Dad… it is the donor. Now, for the purposes of this article, I’m not talking about middle or major donors,
bequests, corporates or any of the other rapidly growing definitions of donors. That said, of course, all donors in all shapes and sizes are, at the end of the day, people. I’m talking about the individual donor. And please don’t worry, this isn’t another article about donor-centric campaigns or relationship marketing. But it is the first of our thought pieces on why donors give; why they choose our nonprofit over another and what they want
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as opposed to what we want them to want. As my astute colleague Derek Humphries once said about the importance of donors to a charity: “We all know the most important element in any fundraising activity is your audience, the person or people you want to inspire to support you. If you don’t understand them and how to make their hearts beat faster, their brains engage and their spirits soar, then you and your beautifully
FI L M/TEL EVI S I O N F U N D RA ISIN G • 4 1
prepared excel spreadsheet are stuffed.” You see, we’ve always held the view that fundraising goes wrong when organisations see donors as transactions – when they think of a donation as a monetary value and not an expression of values.
DONORS DO NOT BUY CHARITY When people donate, they are expressing what is important to them as individuals. It’s an expression of their inner set of values. They are not merely setting up a direct debit payment, a regular credit card payment or a single cash donation. Individuals do not purchase charity. When they donate, they are trusting a charity to stop something they believe should be stopped or do something they believe should be done. They trust a charity because they share the values of its supporters – in other words, the charity is relevant to them as individuals. THINKING LIKE OUR DONORS If we are to understand which value set is important to a donor and if we stop defining a donor by the type of banking donation they have made, then maybe it’s time to reconsider how we engage them. For years, the unrestricted regular donation has been fundraising utopia. And don’t get me wrong, there is still a very strong and, dare I say, stable donor base that wants to give in this way. But how many donors want to give, but not with a small monthly gift and not to an unrestricted fund, and therefore how many donors are we missing? We believe it’s time to consider restricted funding. Yes, we know there are a few around W H Y DO DO NO R S GIVE ?
Purely altruistic I donate because I value the social good done by the charity. The ‘impurely’ altruistic I donate because I extract value from knowing that I contribute to the social good for the charity. And the not-at-all altruistic I donate because I want to show people I care. – Michael Sanders & Francesca Tamma, The Guardian
but we believe there need to be more so we can deliver fundraising to the masses that best fits donor values. That’s probably as donor centric as they come. We also believe it’s time to consider a values-based ‘offer’ to donors. To tell them that if our A ‘purrfect’ way to support UK nonprofit Cats Protection. organisation At first, I must admit, I didn’t think a doesn’t demonstrate that it is achieving the objectives that the donor and the organisation charity lottery campaign would work on believe in, then it will give their annual donation television. But I was wrong. The results are back. Now that is a delightful way to inspire amazing. And the feedback from donors trust in an organisation. is equally wonderful. I can hear sharp intakes of breath from What we’ve found is that these donors/ around the sector but maybe it’s outdated players have deep value-set connections to the cause. These supporters aren’t just to ignore what donors want just because choosing any old lottery: they are choosing doing so is hard work or it doesn’t fit the a lottery that supports kids with learning current fiscal structure of an organisation or difficulties. They are supporting organisations because our organisation has broad-based that are fighting for the rights of people donor journeys. with sight loss or they’re supporting an Yes, I know it’s easy for me to say. To organisation that re-homes cats because change how we inspire donors and to change how we manage funding is not easy to apply. they adore felines. They are not just setting But we believe prospective donors have been up a direct debit for a weekly prize draw telling us for years they want to engage with – they are donating because they are us but not via a direct debit. To ignore them connected to the cause. is to ignore the masses across all age groups Maybe one size doesn’t fit all and maybe and across all altruistic reasons for giving. the most important person in fundraising is the donor. LIFE IS A LOTTERY There is one fundraising campaign that has evolved over recent years that has Peter Muffett demonstrated that maybe there are other Peter is CEO and co-founder of DTV Group. He is based ways to engage donors that give them an in London and Europe when opportunity to give that also works for them. the sun is shining and happily Now while raffles and lottery campaigns spending more and more time are not new, and while on first sight these with DTVers in Australia, New types of campaigns seemingly contradict Zealand, Hong Kong, Korea and India. all that is written above, we believe they are Peter is a self-confessed documentary junkie – inexorability linked to how donors want to with his love of fundraising and DRTV providing engage with our cause rather than how we him with an equally powerful high. would wish them to engage.
Then drop a line to plain talking, fluent in fundraising DTV. Email info@dtvgroup.asia to speak with Alex, Lauren, Kerri, Derek or Peter. Or find out more at www.dtvgroup.asia