A donor once shared with me why he had given so generously to an oceanographic institute on the far coast rather than to an equally renowned one in his own backyard. The leader of the closer one, he said, told him, “If enlightened philanthropists like you don’t step forward to make up for cutbacks in our federal funding, our oceans will become increasingly imperiled”. In contrast, a group of scientists from the farther one invited him to join them for a dive to assess the health of several coral reefs. They swam from a healthy area to a depleted area, and then to a vast expanse of dead reef. The scope of the environmental degradation was profoundly sobering. “When I got back up to the surface,” the donor said, “I knew what I had to do.” The institute farthest from him had won his support by adhering to the basic law of communication, “show don’t tell.”
This law applies to every area and aspect of advancement. Fundraising is so much more effective when we let donors see for themselves whether it is a social ill that we are trying to lessen or a cultural enrichment we are trying to create. When we do this well, we can, in many instances, obviate the need to solicit. The donor will ask, “What can I do to help?”
The most effective ways to attract and engage new donors and raise the sights of existing ones are not to entertain them or bombard them with propaganda, but to draw them into the inner workings of our organizations and allow them to interact with our most impressive mission advocates. A hospital in the Canadian Maritimes tried the usual ways – galas and golf tournaments – which generated spotty turnout while consuming massive amounts of staff time. However, when they began offering onsite lectures and interactions with top docs, they were overwhelmed by the response. The most popular of all turned out to be a talk on “gut flora” from a gastroenterologist.
A donor I recently interviewed said, “The only thing that nonprofits should be auctioning are experiences.” Indeed, especially experiences that show donors who your organization serves and why it does what it does.
Enterprising stewardship officers find ways to show donors how to see the impact of their giving, whether it is through tours of facilities they funded, by hearing results produced by people they empowered, or by meeting with beneficiaries of programs they have underwritten.
Talented advancement writers don’t rely on amped-up promotional prose; they “show” using fact and example to demonstrate current impact and to project greater potential. The most effective proposals don’t urge donors to give; they provide donors with the information they need to draw their own conclusions.
Show does not mean put on a show or show off. It means to “allow or cause something to be visible.” What we want to be more visible is mission at work.
Show don’t tell. Provide experiences that money can’t buy. That’s advancement at its best.
Jim Langley is the president of Langley Innovations. Langley Innovations provides a range of services to its clients to help them understand the cultural underpinnings of philanthropy and the psychology of donors and, with that knowledge, to develop the most effective strategies and tactics to build broader and more lasting communities of support. Jim has authored numerous books, including his most recent book, The Future of Fundraising: Adapting to New Philanthropic Realities, published by Academic Impressions in 2020.
