While most folks are at the beach, here’s what successful Development Directors are doing today to make that Fall fundraising goal.
- The venue is booked.
- The save-the-dates are out.
- The committee is confirmed.
- Events team are bracing for the journal ads to start flying in.
Summer programming activities are a goldmine for finding the mission in action stories that show exactly where the money is going.
How do you identify the story that makes a donor stop mid-bite, put down their fork, and feel like a part of the change instead of simply observing it?
Meaningful Experiences Lead to Lasting Support
Your guests already know your cause is worthy. What they haven’t yet decided is whether your organization should become one of their priorities.
Without a solid explanation of how your work makes a difference, your event is likely just one of three other rubber chicken dinners they’ll be attending that week.
Before you finalize the run of show, the seating chart, or the auction items, ask yourself these questions:
Is the right person telling the story? A survivor, a graduate, a family, a frontline recipient speaking in their own words will always outperform a staff member paraphrasing an experience.
Is the storytelling merely informative, exploitative, or immersive? Does it allow people to see themselves or someone close in the story, or are they simply informed or entertained?
What is the one sentence you want your biggest donor to repeating to their friends the next morning?
Leave the speaking language of need or operations in the grant proposals and brochures.
When you have a live audience in front of you, ask them to invest in the future that you’ve convinced them your organization can create. If you’re leaving out the specificity of what that looks like, you’ve started planning six months too late.
That’s exactly what I help organizations do. Let’s talk.
