For donations, belief is enough [COMMANDMENT 4]

A ten-week series on things you should know about fundraising.

Belief is enough.

You don’t have to educate donors how your programs work. That’s not only unnecessary, it’s counter-productive. Tested again and again, showering donors with facts and “how it works” decreases response.

When you explain, you encourage donors’ analytic, “error-seeking” mind to fire up — and fundraisers almost always lose out when donors are thinking that way. Even more likely, you just bore them and they stop paying attention.

The job of fundraising is to help donors believe they can make a difference.

This important reminder is from Wendy Wong

The rest of the commandments (so far).