Should you ever took a psychology class, you could keep in mind Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of wants. It appears like this:
The “low” bodily wants are on the backside. The “excessive” emotional and religious wants above.
I’m not going to argue with Dr. Maslow. However I do have an issue with the best way his pyramid is usually interpreted in fundraising.
I can’t rely what number of occasions Psych 101-educated fundraisers have advised me that the “low” ranges on the pyramid are much less essential, much less worthy, even much less ethical than the “excessive” ones on the prime. Thus fundraising affords which can be about meals, shelter, or different primary physique wants are much less applicable topics than the nobler wants like self-actualization.
They arrange a false pecking order, as if totally different wants have totally different ethical worth. As if a meals provide is sort of a crummy pop-music hit by the flavor-of-the-week celeb, whereas a self-actualization provide is a Brahms symphony.
That results in ineffective fundraising.
As a result of the upper you go on Maslow’s pyramid, the more durable it’s to get donors to provide.
Almost all donors are happy to assist feed a hungry particular person. Few (although not zero) are prepared to jot down a verify to assist increase the boldness of a stranger.
There’s a approach to make Dr. Maslow a buddy of your fundraising, quite than an issue. All you must do is flip his pyramid the wrong way up. Make it a funnel. Like this:
That places the “low” primary physique wants on the prime, the place they’ll “catch” essentially the most donors. And it permits donors to filter right down to the “excessive” wants in the event that they need to.
It’s no coincidence that the strongest-performing fundraising affords are essentially the most primary. As a result of our feelings, though they really feel advanced, poetic, even religious, are tightly related with survival issues like meals, shelter, and relationship points. Survival.
Fundraising, like all advertising, is the operation of a funnel. You begin with no matter will convey within the largest variety of folks. You then let these folks discover their approach to what they’re involved in.
Excerpted from The Cash-Elevating Nonprofit Model: Motivating Donors to Give, Give Fortunately, and Carry on Giving by Jeff Brooks
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