1. Make it over 20 pages, and an extremely hi-resolution pdf. Yep. the longer, the better, really.

2. No graphics on the cover, just a blue field.

3. Make the cover have boring stock art.

4. Make the cover have “unnecessary” “quotation” marks. Because that’s not indicative of the editing quality of the rest of the report, right?

5. Don’t put anyone who actually has been helped by your nonprofit on the cover. God forbid you should be personal or real.

6. Inside, make sure you have lots and lots of text. No call outs. No boxes. No pictures. Just text.

7. Make sure your graphs are as boring as possible. In fact,

8. Don’t even worry about financial transparency. I mean, it’s not like there are tons of nonprofit scandals around, right? It’s not like your nonprofit is getting audited right now, right? People trust you, right?

9. Don’t list all of your donors. Who looks for their name in an annual report, anyway?

10. Make sure there are no pictures of your team. Who wants to see the people who make it happen, anyway? Ditto for quotes from your team.

11. Whatever you do, don’t have links on your website to different parts of your annual report.

12. No humor. This is serious business here. We cannot joke about your cause, EVER.

13. When you get it printed, use someone you’ve never used before, give them absolutely no time to do the job, and don’t bother with proofs. Grainy photos, misspelled words, and run-on sentences all okay! Who has time to edit these days, right?

Follow these tips and you’ll be SURE to get an unreadable report. In fact, it might as well go straight from the printers to the pacific garbage patch!

Any other not-to-dos? I would love to hear your thoughts below! Also, if you want a free ebook I just made with some ways to do it right, sign up right here, and get it!

 

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Want to be an Annual Report JEDI? Free Ebook Download originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on June 30, 2011.

Mary Cahalane

Mary Cahalane is currently development manager at Riverfront Recapture, a Hartford, Connecticut based nonprofit that is reconnecting the area to its riverfront by building beautiful public parks and creating programs, performances and events that are free for all to enjoy. Prior to that, Mary spent many years fundraising for nonprofit theaters. In more than 20 years of fundraising, she’s done a little of everything but admits to being geeky about direct mail. She is most happy when working with individuals – the amazing people who support our organizations. Follow Mary on Twitter at @mcahalane.

I’ve been a fundraiser for more than 20 years now. I’ve worked for small and small-ish organizations, mostly in the arts. I’ve done a little of everything, but most of my focus has been in individual fundraising.

When I first started, it was easier to grasp the analytical side of things. Numbers were safe. Data entry, collecting information, reporting on information, new ways of looking at the information… it did need to be done, after all. Appeals were a challenge. Thank you letters were scary. How do you stretch “thank you for your gift” into a whole letter?

I took a deep breath and jumped in. Did some research, and learned what to do. Soon, we no longer hired a freelancer to write our appeals. I got better the more I did, and the more I did, the more I enjoyed it.

But… thank you letters were still tough. I did my best, official job of it, and dutifully got them out.
Sound familiar?

I was just avoiding the emotion. That’s why I had nothing to say: giving is an emotional experience and so is gratitude.

But Enough About Me
Unfortunately, most of the acknowledgements I get are still lacking emotion. They’re official, even officious documents, devoid of feeling and, frankly, selfish.

You too? Frustrating, isn’t it? A little sincerity, a little gratitude, would go a long way, right? (You see where I’m going here, don’t you?)

Can I share a story?

There was a man, we’ll call him Henry, who suffered from alcoholism. His disease stripped him of everything he had counted on in his life: his job, his possessions, even the respect of his loved ones. He hit absolute rock-bottom.

That was Henry’s turning point. His recovery began.

Though he was in recovery, he hadn’t regained most of what he’d lost. He was still mostly unemployed. He didn’t have much money. And relationships take time to heal.

The strange thing was Henry was also the happiest person anyone had ever met. Consistently, joyfully, contagiously happy.

Someone at the soup kitchen finally asked: “You’ve lost everything, yet every single time I see you, you’re happy. Why is that?” And he shared his secret:

Gratitude.

He spent every moment of every day focusing gratefully on what he did have; on the blessings he’d been given. And that made him happy. Very, very happy.

I’ve remembered the story for years because it just made so much sense. That’s the way we ought to feel about our donors.

It’s OK to be emotional. In fact, it’s mandatory!

Think about it. We’ve got a really amazing job – we get to help marvelous people do really useful, world-changing things.

So, here’s my advice:

Take the drudgery out of it.
You want to thank each donor personally, warmly – send them a hug.

I know, I know: lots to do, little time. Here’s where a little planning and a little technology can be your friend. Spend a chunk of time writing thank you copy for every type of gift you can anticipate in the year ahead. I stick all of it into one giant bear of a nested merge document. Once it’s done, every person gets a letter that’s properly addressed, that talks about exactly the gift they gave and why they gave it, and that gets to them – fast.

Come up with a system of your own, but just do it. Sure, you’ll probably have to spend a little time eating your spinach, but then it’s all dessert!

I Love You This Much
Don’t be afraid to be emotional. Donors give from their hearts more than their heads. Don’t leave them out there alone! You really can’t be too effusive, so long as you’re being sincere about it. (And if you can’t be sincere about it, then maybe you’re in the wrong line of work.)

Getting To Know You
Meet your donors. Call them. And then listen to them – every chance you get. Even if you’re a little shy, as I am, you soon realize this is the most rewarding part of your job. Remember that in a way, your donors aren’t supporting you; you are supporting them – it’s all about their wishes and dreams, their priorities. You, and your organization, are a means, not the end.

What a Donor Really Wants
Ask them. Try a donor survey. I did that just last year, and it was so much fun! People were happy to be asked for input on what really is their organization. And we learned really important things.

In this case, one of those important things was that many of our donors weren’t able to see our work first-hand due to age or distance and didn’t have computers, so they couldn’t see our website or receive email. They were among our most loyal supporters, too.

If they couldn’t come to us, we needed to come to them…

Show and Tell
So we created a print newsletter. It’s nothing fancy: lots of pictures, some stories, and lots and lots and lots of gratitude. Judging from the gifts that came in after the newsletter was mailed, they loved it.

Just Because
This year is an anniversary year for my organization. We asked people to mark the celebration with a special gift. And they did. People were quickly and gratefully thanked, of course.

But weeks later, it still didn’t feel like enough. So we wrote a brief, but heartfelt letter to these amazing people. Not to ask for a thing, just to say thank you. Just because.

I can’t tell you what a kick it was to hear “that was the nicest letter I have ever gotten!” Made my day.

Practice some gratitude. It will make your donors happy. And it will make you happy, too – I promise!

Thank You
I’m very grateful to Mazarine for allowing me to share her space for the day, and to you, for reading this. Thank you!

———————————————————————————-
Mary, thank you for giving me a chance to practice gratitude, right here and now! Thank you for such a fabulous guest post!

If you have ever been interested in guest posting, but were all, “Well, what do I really have to say?” let me paraphrase Madonna and tell you, EVERYONE is entitled to your opinion. So, if you’re interested in guest posting, let me know.

In the meantime, what are some direct mail strategies that have worked for you?

Guest post: Mary Cahalane on Thank You Letters! originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on May 19, 2011.

I am adapting some of the tools from a book that I’m reading called “Make your Contacts Count” by Anne Baber and Lynne Waymon.

For your reference, here’s the pretty picture I made about it.

How to get more donors

So now, we’re talking about how to make an associate, after just being an acquaintance.

Associate
What’s the next step between acquaintance and associate?

Survey!
Send them an email and ask them to take an online survey about what they care about, what problems they have, etc.

Say thank you!
If they complete it, thank them again through email.

Send them your e-newsletter
Send them an e-newsletter telling them about all of the exciting things your nonprofit is doing, link to blog posts if you have them, or invite them to connect with you on twitter, if you have a twitter account.

Invite them to something.
Send them an invitation to a friendraiser you’re doing in a couple of weeks.

Actor

Conference call with program people
Ask them to join you on a conference call to talk with people doing the work at your nonprofit, maybe overseas, or maybe people in this country. Help them start to feel personally connected with your mission through giving them a chance to learn more about the people doing the work that they don’t have time to do.

Ask them to give of their time, or money
Ask them if they’d like to become more involved with your organization through volunteering, or donating.

SAY THANK YOU AGAIN!
If they donate, thank them promptly. Give them a shout out on your website, on twitter, on linkedin, and on your blog.

Advocate

Would they like you to speak at their workplace?
Call them up, ask if their workplace would be interested in having a speaker come and talk about what you do.

Follow up and say thank you
If yes, follow up right away and ask who you should speak with, and ask them if they can advocate for you, and also advocate with their work friends to donate a portion of each paycheck to your nonprofit automatically. (This is a wonderful way to get monthly and recurring donations that are unrestricted and will keep your nonprofit running for a long long time.)

Ally

Ask them if they would like to serve on your board
Then ask them if they would like to sit on your board, or ask a friend from their work to do so.

Ask for a major gift
Finally, ask them if they would like to become major donors with your nonprofit.

Thank them! give them things!
If they say yes, give them even more special things, perhaps a member-only night at your museum, perhaps a special cruise down the river, perhaps a certificate for their wall, perhaps some small token of your appreciation.

Planned Gifts
After a long while, continuing your thank yous, and followups, you may feel comfortable enough to ask for “The Most Thoughtful Gift” aka “The Bequest.” But that’s another post. About planned giving.

So you can see the amount of THANK YOUS and FOLLOWUPS in here is kind of nuts. But this is what it takes to build a relationship with someone, you have to thank them and make them see that they are important to you. That you really do care about their day, and what is going on with them, and why they give to you. Saying thank you is a show of respect. if you don’t respect someone, no way are you going to thank them. So imagine the message you’re sending when you don’t thank someone. YIKES.

Donors crave recognition and attention, most of all, AMIRITE?

Isn’t this an INSANE amount of work? But imagine if you could connect with each person at a speaking engagement this way. How can you make this happen?

Remember, it takes 5-7 touches to make people move through these stages into allies for your nonprofit. I hope, now that you’ve seen all of these touches, you realize how important it is to have a fundraising team at your nonprofit. This means volunteers if you’re a one-person shop.

I have just given you Stewardship 101. You’re welcome!

So, how can you apply this?

Where is a place you can speak this week?

Where is a place you can go to get corporate donations?

Have you got some volunteers you could reach out to and get to know a bit better?

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How do you turn an accidental donor into an ally? Part 2 originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on May 3, 2011.

What have you done about that?

I’m reading a book right now that I think would help you find new donors and help them want to give to your organization.

It’s called “Make your Contacts Count” by Anne Baber and Lynne Waymon.

It’s all about how people start to know, like, and trust you. This can go for a business as well as a nonprofit, but let’s start here. This is the anatomy of a donor relationship. Please try to keep up.

How to get more donors

It takes 5-7 touches to make people move through these stages into allies for your nonprofit.

Little Accidents
Start seeing these little accidents as opportunities to get more people involved with your nonprofit.

Start with Speaking engagements
This might be when you’re giving a speaking engagement somewhere. The people there made the choice to be there, and they are curious about what you have to say. What an opportunity! Start to tell them about who you are, but first, get to know who they are, what they are looking for, tap into what their hopes and fears are.

Enewsletter signup
Perhaps they sign up for your e-newsletter that day, and you have permission to email them. Thank them for this opportunity, and give them a free gift for signing up for your e-newsletter. Maybe it’s a free pdf about your cause, or maybe a sticker, or another piece of swag.

Thank them right away!
Maybe they sign up and you give them a shout out on Twitter or Linkedin or both.

Personal email or phone-call
Maybe you send them a personal message or call them, and ask them about their lives, ask them what they are looking for in their lives, or ask them about their family or other causes they give to, and why they give to them.

Follow up
If you’ve called or emailed them, and then they’ve picked up or emailed back, thank them right away, with a personal note.

Acquaintance
How do you move from Accident to Acquaintance?

Open House
Maybe this is the first time they walk into your open house. They’re curious about you. They left their comfortable house to come and meet you and learn who you are. Take this for the compliment that it is. Maybe they also give you $1.00 or even $10.00 at this time.

Give them something right away
What can you give them? How can you connect with them at that time?
1. Have a program delivery person be held up as a hero, and share a story about your nonprofit
2. Share a personal story about why you’re involved, if you want.
3. Invite them to share their stories about their past, in any way.
4. Also, give them food.
5. Maybe ask them to sign a petition about a particular issue, pass that around, and then give them something, like a pen or a pin, to say thank you.
6. If they’re interested, invite them to another event, perhaps a protest, or a movie night

Follow up and ask for their opinion
After the open house, email or call personally and follow up with each person. How did they enjoy the night? Would they have liked anything to be different? Send them a thank you note if you can’t follow up personally.

Say thank you publicly, again
If they are on Twitter or Linkedin, mention them on there and thank them for coming to your nonprofit open house.

Can you connect them with something they need?
Ask them if they are looking for recommendations for things, such as people that you might have connections to. Perhaps they’re looking for a new yoga studio, and you have a new age nonprofit, and you happen to know tons of yoga teachers. Take pride in connecting them personally. Help them see you as a resources as well as a nonprofit.

Tune in tomorrow for Part 2!

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How do you turn an accidental donor into an ally? Part 1 originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on May 2, 2011.

In 2011, what new web/mobile technologies or tactics will help organizations and enterprises create/increase social impact? How will changes in nonprofit technology shift the way we serve our communities?

Here is what I think, and then, I want to hear what YOU think!

I think our web tactics in 2011 are going to have to give us 3 things.

1. Transparency. Our donors are demanding more and more transparency. Where does the money go? Why does it go there? What is our REAL impact? And I think that last one is the most important. You can show your impact with an interactive dashboard, from number of case manager visits to number of members you have at your membership organization. You can also show where the money goes, from the Kilowatt hours to building rent. It’s fairly easy, with an initial investment, to set up a transparency dashboard similar to IMAMUSEUM, and if you want one for your nonprofit, may I recommend this web firm? Reasonable rates, and sterling results. Want proof? Look at this website. All done by Steve Havelka. Also, my new website. When you SHOW transparency, you WILL get more donations. People like to see your true, realtime impact, and that is actually easy to automate.

2. Community Our new web technologies in 2011 are going to help us build community faster. Emails are opened maybe 25% of the time, Direct Mail has a well-known 4% response rate, but text messages are opened 85% of the time. Even if you are very small, you CAN take advantage of this resource.

I think whether we are social service charities or arts nonprofits, we need to think about building community not just among our donors, but among our clients, students, and others who use our services. How will we do this? Why not a number to text if you’re stranded and need to be picked up? Or a way to broadcast text all clients with closure news for your agency on a snow day?

And what about your community of donors? Can you start a mobile giving/petition campaign? If money is the barrier, how about coming together in community with sister nonprofits in your city to ask for mobile donations together in a month or during a week that is about your issue? (Sexual Assault Month, Domestic Violence Month, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, etc).

I think 2011 is about recovering from this downturn through weaving our networks EVEN CLOSER. It’s about building community with your clients, donors, and your natural community organizational partners, to lift the entire community and make less work for the one-person shop.

Can you start, right now, to think of 3 people who have a similar job to you in your city, who you could meet for coffee and plan a mobile giving campaign with? If you pool your resources, you can all reap the rewards!

3. Cultivation Whether your nonprofit is on Twitter, Facebook, or is just starting the journey towards engaging donors online, there are cheap or FREE ways to thank donors just for being there for you. People say you should communicate at least 5 times before you ask for money, and now Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and Hootsuite all make this easy for you.

What I mean by this is, you can thank donors via text, via @messages on twitter, or just by name on Twitter, on your Facebook page, on LinkedIn, and on your website too.

For example, @DCShoutOuts will tweet who gave to their organization, and the reason they gave, on their twitter stream. Your donors can look for and find their own names on there, even if they don’t have a twitter account, if you have a Twitter widget in the sidebar of your website showing your tweets. So the only way this really costs you money is in your time.

Imagine this.

You’re a donor, but you haven’t gotten a thank you letter in two weeks! You wonder if they even got your donation. Then, you give to another nonprofit, and you see your name on the nonprofit website, in a thank you letter that they mail to you, in their LinkedIn group, and on their Facebook page. Do you feel thanked? I think I would!

In short, in 2011 I think we’ll see a lot more nonprofits coming together in community to do mobile donations, and taking advantage of cheap or free ways to help deliver services, grow donor loyalty and extend their reach.

What do YOU think?

What are YOUR predictions?

Also, follow @WildWomanFund on twitter! Why? Because you <3 snappy & amusing Tweets!

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What are YOUR Nonprofit Tech Predictions for 2011? originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on January 20, 2011.

Oh, you thought this was going to be a thanksgiving post! Or a donor acknowledgement post! Or a stewardship post! Wrong!

This post is just a big love note!

Love note!

This is a love note to everyone who has bought a book over the past few days! I mean, people all over the world, I am flabbergasted! And joyful! How can I say thank you? Thank you so much for reading this blog, for liking my writing, for believing that I have something worthwhile to share in this book!

Thank you to Heather Davis, the first person who signed up to get my new book, The Wild Woman’s Guide to Fundraising! Heather is the Development Director at the Telling Room, in Portland, Maine, where they teach children how to write! You should go check out their nonprofit website and mission! It’s a worthy cause.

Merci Beaucoup to Craig Linton! He is the Fundraising detective extraordinaire in England! His blog has some of the best fundraising ideas and links!

Thank you to Alexandra Peters! of Boards Eye View. She consults and teaches nonprofits how to be better in New York City!

Terima Kasih to Danielle Bardgette! Who not only is a fabulous graphic designer (of my book cover!) but also, a true friend in Austin, Texas!

And I want to thank those who are reviewing the book right now!

Michael Chatman! The maverick philanthropist in Florida!

Joan Drescher! Founder of The Moon Balloon Project in Massachusetts, a nonprofit that helps people in crisis express their emotions through words and pictures!

Emily Gogol! Who is successfully grantwriting for community gardens in San Francisco, CA!

Pamela Grow! A fabulous grantwriter and powerhouse community-creator in Pennsylvania!

Rebekah Shubin! Director of the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Sacramento, California! And she is my friend!

Amy Sample Ward! the Community Development Manager for CDI (Community-Driven Innovation) at TechSoup Global, and my friend!

Nathalie Robinson at SOFII! SOFII is a fundraising information clearinghouse in the UK!

Sue Thornton! Sue Thornton is a nonprofit management consultant who helps people with everything from Federal Grants to Board Retreats! And she edited my book! AND my friend!

and

Beth Kanter! Who so inspired me to get on the social media bandwagon in 2007! And who is a famous and successful social media nonprofit blogger too! And the CEO of Zoetica!

And muchas gracias to people who have retweeted about my book on Twitter!
@Mchalane
@Trbates1
@GoodBiz113
@Rjleaman
@LizinBali
@PromoteUGuru
@Danibardgette
@FrDetective
@GenerationMeh
@HeronGrace
@MariaDeathstar
@TaniaLittle
@PamelaGrow
@Hat0

If you would like to buy the book, now that you’ve seen this list of fabulous people who care and have bought it, I can’t wait to help you do that! Click here, and enjoy a comprehensive fundraising education!

Now, some Non-Book Related Thank Yous!

Thank you for linking me, Center for Nonprofit Excellence!

Thanks for linking me, Wayne Elsley of Soles4Souls!

Thanks for all of the retweets and happiness
@AlisonRapping
@RachelHutchssn
@CorinneAM
@LeslieatHOPE
@RGDevelopment
@eclawson
@agentsofgood
@communitny
@skbeal
@Elizabeth_SAV
@Austin_women!
@cheritatweets

Finally, thank you to all of the lovely anonymous lurkers! It’s because of you that I look at my stats page and go “Holy Crap, I outpaced last month’s stats, AGAIN!”

Behold

Stats for Wild Woman Fundraising

I mean really, talk about ego stroking! You can keep on reading!

And subscribe to my enewsletter!

I would love to get an email from you, or a comment, tell me what you’re working on, if there’s anything I can do for you, and what you love or hate about this blog!

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Every day is Thanks Giving for Fundraising Professionals! originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on November 25, 2010.

This is a map of Texas, and how I drove all over it! Red line is actual route, Blue line is the route for squares.

It’s an intensive 2 day course that helps you learn how to communicate more effectively when you do speaking engagements, or even if you’re just making a presentation to your staff or board. It was incredible.

Here’s what I learned:

When we’re presenting in person,

50% of our communication is physical.
35% is how we sound,
10% is what we actually say.

When you present, your audience sees your
Eyes
Hands
Stance
And Presentation.

They hear your
Volume
Inflection
Pace

You need to be aware of and control each one.

Eyes
For example, I learned that you should only speak when you’re looking at people’s eyes. When you look into people’s eyes, you transfer information, convey empathy, authenticity, and respect.

Every thought should go to someone, and it goes through the eyes. For example, Bill Clinton will move his eyes without moving his head, like he’s taking you into his confidence. It’s very effective.

Body Language
When you’re presenting, you must plan how you look and how you sound just as much as what you say.

Don’t compromise your message by contradicting it with your body language.

You might end up with a visual mismatch when you put your hands in your pockets, when your fingers twitch, when your hands clench, or if your arms are stuck to your sides, or if your stance is shifting rapidly, or tilting. Your gestures should be shoulder height, away from the body. They can show movement, the passage of time.

More tips in a later post!

Did you find these tips useful?

What are some other tips for speaking effectively?

PS. I’m going to be at the 501 Tech Club in Austin today, presenting on our game, so come and say hi!

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If you need to move, make it purposeful. Shoulder width apart for your legs.

Do you want to learn how to speak more effectively? originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on September 20, 2010.

The Networked Nonprofit Beth Kanter, Allison Fine

I just got the Networked Nonprofit!

Go Beth Kanter! Go Allison Fine! It’s so good!

This book answers clearly and concisely what your nonprofit stands to gain by being investing in social media. Two key points are that your nonprofit can use social media to “Listen, Engage and Build Relationships”, and that when you do this, “Transparency Builds Trust.”

If you know how Twitter works, this should be telling you why your nonprofit should be on Twitter!
(follow me @wildwomanfund BTW)

Let me break it down:

0. As a free channel for conversation directly targeting people who care about your cause, it’s hard to beat!

1. It’s a wonderful way to thank your donors. @DCShoutouts is doing this now. And it makes me want to give to them.

2. It’s a good way to connect to potential donors, including foundations!

3. It’s a fun free way to have conversations with people around a hashtag for your cause. Cheaper and more fun than a phone-a-thon, you can ask people questions that matter, and help them feel more engaged in the issues you’re working on. Try TweetGrid for this service.

4. When you’re transparent on Twitter, people can start to trust you.

5. When you look for people mentioning you on Twitter, you can listen to them. It’s more and more clear how the community views you.

6. It does actually lead to fundraising too. Beth Kanter raised over $16,000 on Twitter!

Oh plus, SO MANY people are on there, and using Twitter to gain support for their causes, as well as their businesses, and their personal brands. You can learn a lot from people who are doing what works.

If you need proof of how many people are on there, check out this chart from Mashable.

How many people are on twitter?

Why Your Nonprofit Should Be On Twitter originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on September 10, 2010.

Fitted with high-tech legs, Scout Bassett, at left, and Sarah Reinertsen run together on a track. Photograph courtesy Challenged Athletes Foundation

According to Joseph Campbell, author of “The Power of Myth,” and “Hero With A Thousand Faces” there is only one story.

The story where the hero is thrown out of his home. Then he undergoes the transformation, the struggling in the wilderness, and finally, the triumphant return.

Let’s look at the first part of the story.
I: Departure
1. The Call to Adventure
2. Refusal of the Call
3. Supernatural Aid
4. The Crossing of the First Threshold
5. The Belly of the Whale

II:The Journey
1. The Road of Trials
2. The Meeting with the Goddess
3. Woman as the Temptress
4. Atonement with the Father
5. Apotheosis
6. The Ultimate Boon

III: Return
1. Refusal of the Return
2. The Magic Flight
3. Rescue from Without
4. The Crossing of the Return Threshold
5. Master of the Two Worlds
6. Freedom to Live

Can you recognize this story in your own life?

Are you telling some elements of this story with your appeals, your acknowledgments, or on your website?

If not, why not? Don’t you think your donors would like to read a story too?

For example, say you are working with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet.
You’re talking about your principal ballerina in appeal letter. How can you make her story more compelling to your audience? Can you talk about her humble beginnings? How some people in her family didn’t want her to become a dancer? How she had to leave home and go through the trials of becoming a professional ballerina? The hours she had to dance on pointe until her feet were bleeding? And her eventual triumph and return to her family? And can you weave that story into the story of your nonprofit, to show how you are there to help dancers triumph over incredible odds to dance for a living? And how it’s so important to keep having heroines in ballerina form in Winnipeg?

Or say you’re working with Knox Parks Foundation.
You want to recruit more people to your Green Crew, which helps people without job skills get horticulture and landscaping skills. How can you make this more compelling to your donors and potential program participants? Can you tell the story of one young man, who came from the projects? Can you tell people that he didn’t have any garden in his neighborhood growing up? Can you tell them how he was so far from nature that perhaps he lived on corn chips and had never eaten an eggplant? Can you tell how he heard about your program, at first didn’t want to go? Can you tell how he eventually left his apartment, and started to come to your program site, to learn to grow his own vegetables, how to get closer to the land, and how he triumphed against the odds to become a master gardener? Can you even tell the story of how he has his own garden now, and his own landscaping business? Can you see elements of Joseph Campbell’s story in his story?

Or what if you’re working with the Amputee Coalition of America?
Can you tell the story of one young girl who had gangrene in both legs, and so had to have her feet amputated? Can you tell how she was teased in school, the sad namecalling, the tears that she shed, how outcast she felt, until she turned 18 and left her small home town, and went out in the world? How she met more amputees thanks to your nonprofit, and how they encouraged her to succeed despite the odds? And how she got prosthetic legs and started to run in marathons? How now she has a partner and a happy life and has learned to survive and thrive in her status as an amputee?

Can you weave stories into your communications so that people know it’s not just a big concrete building that’s getting their money, but a real person, who has triumphed against the odds to make the world brighter thanks to your nonprofit?

How can you start to tell a better story, today?

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The Power of One Story originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on September 2, 2010.

Dr. Cialdini tells the story of a car salesman who sold, on average, 5 cars a day. How did he do it?

Every month he sent all his former customers a card that said, “I like you!” And it worked! People began to like him too, and came back to buy.

Why does it produce results?

People feel pre-disposed to like you if they know that you like them.

I had a board chair in a previous position who just looked me in the eye one day and said, “I Like You!” And that stayed with me for weeks, and every time I thought about it, I got happy again. How many times have we heard this phrase, delivered simply and genuinely to our faces? My first instinct is, not that often! So many people are looking for positive feedback, and so often, all they get is criticism. It’s easier to find something to criticize than to say, “I Like You!” but this is something that works. Try it!

Imagine if you could apply this to your donors. Every time you make a touch, whether it’s through phone, email, or a card (you might want to outsource the mailing if this happens every month) and you just tell them, “I like you,” imagine how many more donations you could get. Imagine how you could build good feeling about your nonprofit.

Instead of trying to tell people the doom and gloom story, the business case for giving, or simply trying to get them to come out to a social event, why not just say, “I Like YOU!”

Tell me your results with this!

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How you can attain influence originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on July 22, 2010.