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A perfect example of ‘spray and pray fundraising’
This email wasted my time and annoyed me because…
- I don’t know this person
- I don’t know this organization
- I didn’t give her or them permission to email me
- I have no connection whatsoever to this cause or this organization
- And, since I have no idea who she is and am not aware of the good this organization does, I certainly wasn’t expecting to be asked to give them $5,000 to sponsor a local event that is 500 miles from where I live…. all through an email that is clearly the same one used for everyone else)
Good grief!
Am I offended? Yes. This is clearly a form email. In other words, she used it over and over but just changed the name of the company.
Should I be offended? I think so and that’s all that matters.
Do I get a lot of emails like this? Yes, about once every 2 weeks.
Will I ever give to this organization? NO!
Will people like me who get targeted like this ever find value in this kind of outreach? NO!!!
Folks, THIS is spray and pray fundraising. Don’t do it.
Fundraising Climate Change is happening because of emails like this.
Want to learn more about that? Check out my report titled: Fundraising Climate Change and What You Can Do About It.
………………
LEARN MORE ABOUT WHY SPRAY AND PRAY COMMUNICATIONS FAIL HERE.
LEARN 3 STEPS TO BREAK YOUR SPRAY AND PRAY ADDICTION HERE.
MORE ON WHY MAJOR AND LEGACY GIFT DONORS THINK YOUR MARKETING STINKS CAN BE FOUND HERE.
Get the book!
Feeling like your job is getting harder because donor expectations have changed and competition for the charitable dollar is growing?
Finding that the old orthodoxies and conventions espoused by so-called experts in online echo-chambers and at conferences don’t work anymore?
Want to help more people make impact by facilitating their acts of philanthropy but feel like too many obstacles keep getting in your way?
Then this book is for you.
Engagement Fundraising was developed from the perspective of a donor who discovered firsthand that the impersonal, spray-and-pray approaches of his beloved charity were not only offensive but also wasteful and ineffective. So he took action. And now, you can too.
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Greg, examples like this just say to me that this person, this organization, have a fear of fundraising. Which, to me, equates to a fear of rejection. Spray and pray fundraising gives the solicitor and the organizational leadership a false sense of “Whew! Thank goodness we didn’t have to build a relationship with anyone and ask them them to partner with us to (fill in the mission statement blank). I mean, they may have said ‘No’ and then I’d feel personally rejected. At least with this spray and pray email campaign we can hide from our fear and hope someone says ‘Yes’.” Sad but all too common.
Sadly, this is an all-too-common approach to solicit business sponsorships for events. The development staffer is then able to report back to their boss that they sent out XXX solicitations, but only got X response. They translate this as: “We’re not the type of organization that can get business donors. I tried. I did my job, but it didn’t work.” It’s an excuse for working hard, but not working smart.
Somehow people who understand the need to build relationships with individuals don’t understand that businesses are people too!
Greg, you are being very charitable by not revealing the name of the organization. I’m not sure I would have shown the same restraint. What you received was spam in the guise of a sponsorship appeal.
There are a number of reasons why nonprofits send out such ridiculous appeals. Years ago, I had a client who was seeking corporate sponsorships the correct way. Part of what that meant was that he sent very few proposals, though they were targeted and appropriate. However, his boss was angry that the fundraiser was not doing enough. So, the boss set a high quota for how many sponsorship proposals he expected to be sent each week. To keep his job, the fundraiser sent out a bunch of blind proposals. His boss was very, very pleased. Years later, I still shake my head about that story.
Keep shining a bright light to stupid fundraising practice!