film/television fundraising
Lessons in donor comms from DRTV
In order to work effectively, DRTV must concentrate a great deal of fundraising best-practice into 60 seconds. And as such, it’s a great reminder of where fundraisers often go wrong, Derek Humphries explains.
W
hen you read a direct mail pack or an annual report from many notfor-profit organisations, you quickly discover that fundraisers tend not to be in the habit of using one word when several are more likely to tick boxes on internal communication matrices and satisfy a 360-degree range of internal stakeholders. Like that last sentence: there are just too many words. This has really struck me after a few years of writing scripts for TV appeals. In direct response television (DRTV) every word counts. Every syllable, in fact. And every word must drive response. Likewise, every beat of music, every second of footage.
A new way of looking at fundraising communications It has led me to reassess how I approach other forms of fundraising. What’s
now clear is that fundraisers and their organisations spend massive amounts of time agonising to find precisely the right words for their vison statements, mission statements, cases for support, direct mail packs and trust applications, when so often it is imagery – whether photos or footage – that inspires people to act. I am, at heart, a copywriter, so in no way do I wish to say that words don’t matter! More that they need to be used selectively. We have all been in those workshops where 30 people write hundreds of words on post-it notes which are then diligently clustered to identify themes. I’ve run those workshops. I may well do so again in the future. But I’ll be placing much more weight on the images. Let’s look at a case for support, for example. This should be the key document designed to persuade donors of the importance of supporting your
The three i’s of fundraising communications Inspiration and information are concepts that need no explanation. But the relative proportions you need of each will vary according to who you are raising money from. For example, a charitable foundation may demand more information than an individual signing up with a door-to-door fundraiser. As for ‘indulgence’, this is the word we use for the kind of content that allows the organisation to feel that it has included all its organisational
key messages, but which won’t necessarily mean anything to the potential supporter. In DRTV there’s zero scope for indulgence … and there’s no reason to allow lots of indulgent content to slip into other communications forms, such as direct mail. Once a sentence or paragraph of indulgence creeps in, there is a risk of losing your audience’s attention which, in turn, will stop them taking the action of donating.
Inspiration Information Indulgence
Finding it hard to see how drtv can work for you?
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| F&P Magazine | April / May 2015
Insight, analysis and inspiration for nonprofit executives and leaders
cause. It will appeal to the heart and the head, fundraising stronger: the spirit and the values of supporters. But too 1. Show the need, the solution, and how the often it will do so via many pages of text which are supporter can make a difference. Show, not very hard to translate into a simple, public-facing tell. communication, where a single powerful image can 2. Write an emotional rather than a fact-driven create an inspiring appeal that performs for many narrative. Fundraising is about feelings more years, like the example (right) from the UK’s The than facts. Royal National Lifeboat Institution. 3. Whatever you write can be 50% shorter. So now, when creating a case for support, we Write fewer words. seek first to tell the story in images. To do the 4. Avoid all indulgence: the supporters won’t same, ask yourself the following questions: notice whether or not you’ve included every • How can we best visually show the need? key message from your strategic plan. They • Which photographs – or video footage – will will notice if you make their hearts skip a demonstrate the solution? beat.
An image helped RNLI’s proposition succeed One of the UK’s longest running and most successful supporter recruitment propositions was this one for The Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Various agencies tried and failed to beat it for 20 years. Although it contains fine copy, the image is crucial – from the arresting eye contact to the expression which makes you feel this is a reluctant hero who’d rather not be having his photo taken. This ‘real’ image of a man – capturing his values of courage and strength – has helped make the message so successful for so long.
“A single powerful image can create an inspiring appeal that performs for many years ... So now, when creating a case for support, we seek first to tell the story in images.” • How can we show our credentials to be the best organisation to deliver that solution? • Whose voices will bring this to life, and testify to the difference we have made? Approaching this first from a visual perspective can make the subsequent writing of copy so much easier and more focussed.
Six key lessons from DRTV Overall, there seem to be six key lessons from DRTV that will make almost any other form of
5. No-one is hanging around hoping you will ask them for money. Everyone is getting on with their increasingly busy lives. So you are in the business of constructive interruption. Make your interruption one that offers the supporter the chance to do something great. 6. Keep your stories incomplete unless the donor intervenes. Communication should rarely be about how fantastic the cause is. It should be about how fantastic the supporter can be by acting through the cause.
Derek Humphries Derek Humphries is a creative director at the DTV Group, and helps create television appeals for good causes in around 30 countries.
Then drop a line to plain talking, fluent in fundraising DTV. Email info@dtvgroup.asia to speak with Alex, Kerri, Angeline, Derek or Peter. Or find out more at www.dtvgroup.asia
Insight, analysis and inspiration for nonprofit executives and leaders
F&P Magazine | April / May 2015 |
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