In all my years of fund raising, both doing it and teaching it, every successful experience comes down to understanding 5 fundamental truths or axioms. They are:
- People only give to people.
- People give to your future.
- People give to success.
- People get something from giving.
- People don’t give unless they’re asked.
Here’s what # 3 means:
People give to success. Donors are more motivated to give to success rather than distress. Whining about government budget cuts or a weak economy and their effect your resources has little appeal. Identifying a community problem that you’ve addressed successfully and outlining your future goals – to enhance the outcomes or tackle the next problem – does much more to excite someone to invest in your experience and success.
