Three things a street fair reminded me about fundraising

I draw a lot of inspiration for fundraising strategy in the things I see every day. I headed out to one of the largest Halloween festivals in the US last week, and snapped three pics that serve as a reminder about how donors engage with causes. Here are three fundraising reminders from my trip: keep it local, offer "small", and provide an experience. I’ll break it down.

If it’s close to home, it’s more likely to get a donation

I thought this was a smart sign, supplied by the national organization to some Scouts doing their annual popcorn sale.

Giving local is a very common donor preference, and there are all kinds of reasons for this. We just feel better when we know that people close to us are benefiting. And scrutiny on overhead continues to make donors wary of giving to the bigger entities that are based out of town.

One tip: ask your donors direct questions about whether local impact important to them. I’m recalling a recent conversation with a donor, who we heard wanted to give a significant portion of their wealth to “the church.” This is a deeply religious philanthropist. I asked, “Do they mean ‘the Church’ or ‘my church’?” It turns out, both.

The donor wanted to give some to the broader faith endeavor, but a much bigger portion to their specific local congregation. This is the way most donors see things. Local comes first, even if it’s in the context of a broader cause.

The key point: Even if you are a national or international cause, show local impact. There are many ways to accomplish that. You could use AI-driven personalization to send local stories, or communications in the voice of local volunteers. Basically, work to answer the question: ‘what does this impact in my backyard?’ and ‘who from my social group is involved?’ This is a crucial driver of Connection in the donor decision process.

Small is more exciting to donors in today’s fundraising environment

These enterprising kids had a great pitch for their hot chocolate stand. Because, as kids, they are small.

Along with local, small is compelling to donors. “Small business” continues to be a powerful preference for consumers. Americans are less trusting now of large institutions. This is definitely impacting giving to formal charities.

The key point: You definitely need to establish a big brand to provide a base for donor confidence. But focus as much messaging as possible on how you are responsive, entrepreneurial, and ‘small’ amidst a larger endeavor. Grassroots crowdfunding projects , very specific impact stories, and a focus on donors being partners in innovation can help.

We need to make giving an experience

Here’s a picture from a smart charity drive at the festival, at an award-winning Halloween display, supporting a really neat charity :

The pitch: Take a picture with the witch, make a gift. That’s experience-based fundraising at its finest. And I love it. Definitely when we are introducing a new cause to donors, offering something fun, different, and getting into some social media feeds is smart. It's also really smart to make the giving as as easy as possible with a QR code, and a digital wallet to allow for gifts via Paypal, Venmo, etc.

For a long time, I was against gift premiums, or giving “stuff” to people who make a donation. Besides the hassle of tax accounting, it just always seemed to be a cheap shortcut to raise donor numbers, and puts retention into question. I’ve changed my mind. When the gift reward is an experience, it brings people closer to the cause.

I’m into socks and other wearables – especially if they are limited edition, and can’t be bought anywhere else. Wearing something you can only get by giving is an exclusive experience. And I’m hearing from organizations who use this tactic that retention for swag-induced donors is actually pretty good.

You’ll want to follow up premium-based and experience giving with great stewardship and education about impact. That's key to making giving more than a transaction. However, given the success of these campaigns, I’d suggest we all take a close look at where we can use the things we previously thought of as gimmicks to boost a donor base.

The key point: Go beyond the transaction of giving. This can mean offering exclusive items, access to experiences, and even digital swag that people can use on their devices. For any type of donor, the experiential component can be powerful to make giving part of their lifestyle, and will make donating a more sticky behavior down the road.

How are you local, small and providing an experience for your donors? Drop me a line, I’d love to hear what’s working.