The Life You Can Save

I thought I'd share a little story, which highlights the importance of our job as fundraisers to make our audiences care about our beneficiaries - as much as they do for those who are close to them.

As she put her mobile phone away, Marie broke into a huge smile. She had to stop herself from punching the air and cheering out loud.

She had just landed a big, new client.

But for a while now, things hadn’t looked so rosy for Marie.

Her business had been growing really well until her biggest client hired a new marketing director who had quickly brought in a new agency.

Marie knew it had been a mistake to rely on one client for 50% of her revenue, but how could she have turned them down? She'd struggled over the past nine months – cutting her salary right down even though little Toby had come along.

Money was really tight with her husband, Mark, looking after Toby and trying to get a break with his writing, and the board insisting on redundancies – unless Marie won a big, new client.

The call was to confirm the contract. Business was back to booming – but one condition from the new client was that Marie had to personally oversee the account; without her there was no deal.

Back in the now, Marie noticed people around her dodging a street fundraiser – one of those earnest young people banging on about saving the world. This one worked Oxfam. Well, worked for Oxfam today Marie thought – tomorrow it will be Greenpeace or Amnesty.

Earnest Street Fundraiser caught Marie’s eye and before she could escape he stood right in front of her.

“Hello, how are you today?” he began Earnest. â€œI’m good but…” Marie said, looking for an escape route.

“That’s great! I hope you can spare me a few moments today. I'm working for Oxfam to help alleviate poverty and literally save kids’ lives around the world. You see, in Africa right now, countless kids suffer from easily curable diseases. A million of them will die this year from diarrhea alone. For just $35 a month – a little over a dollar a day – you can directly help save lives…”

Earnest obviously believed in what he was saying. But Marie had more on her mind right now.

“I’m sorry. I don’t have time right now” she said, making a beeline for a pedestrian crossing where a young mother watched, relieved to not be Earnest’s victim. Her child, a toddler dressed in a pretty red dress, was fascinated by something in the gutter.

Marie caught the young mum's eye - they knowingly smiled at each other as Marie sloped off towards the crossing, wishing the lights would change.

Earnest was looking for his next victim when Marie saw something dart out from the gutter – a rat perhaps. It shot off across the road in front of the traffic, startling everyone.

Then things slowed down. Marie saw the child go to run after the rat, and the red mass of a bus coming in from the nearside. Marie's instincts kicked in and, without thinking, she leapt in front of the mum, pushing the girl backwards, towards the pavement.

Everything worked against her. She saw the frightened child fall onto the sidewalk behind. She could feel the bus bearing down on her.

There was no escape.

She thought about Mark, and Toby. She thought about being a mum. What would happen to them? She was the breadwinner. And the leader of a great company, which she built. The bus would surely end that.

She heard the screeching of brakes, tyres and the young mother.

But no impact.

She felt an arm grab her, pulling her up. The bus had come to a stop.

The young mum hugged her daughter tight. Marie realised it was Earnest helping her up. He had tears in his eyes.

“You’re a hero,” he told her.

As fundraisers, our job is to make people care enough about children (or indeed, other beneficiaries) who are often a long distance away, as much as they do for someone closer to home. In a similar situation, most of use would hope to react like Marie did, but she risked everything to save a stranger's life.

As fundraisers, we're constantly striving to bring causes closer to donors through;

• stories
• personalisation
• relationships and
• demonstrating the consequences of not giving.

Facts and stats don’t bring things closer, stories do. Child Sponsorship does this brilliantly.

I hope you enjoyed this story. My webinar series talks more about inspiring donors. Click here if you haven’t already registered for my next webinar this week:

The Quickest Cheapest And Easiest Way To Extra Cash Now. Turn Mid Value Donors Into Major Gifts In A Week. 

Live this week on Thurs 29th Sept / Friday 30th Sept (depending on your time zone), but the recording and slides available for all who register – even if you can’t make the date.

Sean

PPS – I have just launched a new website. No biggie, but you can check out my latest blogs and signup for my newsletter here.