Productive annual giving messaging often gets changed too quickly because the type of message feels “the same” and change feels like progress.
Example: “Let’s not use a student scholarship story for our end of calendar year direct mail annual fund letter since we used a student story in the last annual fund letter.”
Similarly, productive annual giving strategies often get changed too quickly because the type of strategy feels “the same” and change feels like progress.
Example: “Let’s not have a donor match gifts for athletics during the month of December since we already had a match campaign during Homecoming earlier this fall.”
Two observations:
- The specific student (and their story) used in the scholarship direct mail annual giving letter is the change that’s effective.
- When marketed well, giving matches will activate different profiles of donors – perhaps first-time donors or donors at a particular giving level – which is the change that’s effective.
When we stay focused on the fundamentals – personalizing compelling stories of our mission and activating reliable giving motivations for donors – we can rest in the assurance that the type of message we share (i.e., a student scholarship story) or the type of strategy we promote (i.e., a giving match) rarely needs changing.
To our donors and prospective donors, the varied student stories we share and the multiple giving match strategies we promote are all the difference needed.
