Last month we looked at the reasons people contribute. We also made the point of how nonprofits increase their ability to raise money by meeting people where they are. While that’s a phrase widely used in social work, the tactic works whether you are a nonprofit, a business working to generate revenue, or even a medical practice caring for patients. When you partner with people where they are, the desired results will follow.

Clearly, most nonprofits approach their communications with messages focusing on their mission, as well as the services they provide. While that’s a worthwhile scenario, there’s more to it than that. Trust me, after decades in business, 15 running my own with numerous clients, and forming two 501c3 organizations, I know how nonprofits work and what they do.

A key lesson I learned, early in my business development career, is that stories sell. That’s the same as saying stories help your nonprofit raise the funds needed to create and maintain programs that benefit your various audiences. Certainly, a successful approach needs to incorporate your mission, your numbers, and the ways you make a positive impact on your target communities. At the same time, if that’s the exclusive focus of your communications, you’re missing the mark.

The Application4Your Nonprofit

Last month we encouraged you to avoid the cookie-cutter approach to fundraising. Please be reminded, the following strategy works for all kinds of businesses. To achieve the greatest success, customize your messaging to fit the situation and integrate storytelling in all aspects of fundraising and sales.

Those stories will sell and, in the case of your nonprofit, that means you’ll increase your capacity to carry out the work of your organization. A compelling story impacts the decision process in a variety of ways. The listener can better connect their passion with your cause, it builds empathy, and it softens the ground for the ultimate ask. Too many fundraisers simply present the facts, ask for the money, and even when checks are written, wonder why a lot of money is left on the table.
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Embrace that story and tailor it for use in your messaging, in your formal ask, grant requests, on your website, and obviously throughout your social media. So you aren’t in the development world? As I’ve stated above, this same technique fits with whatever you’re doing in your professional life, as well.  

Stories motivate action.  Tell them.  Get better at telling them.  Then tell them again.

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We have a traditional Giving Day in November and many other giving days taking place throughout the year in different communities. “It's more blessed to give than to receive” as the verse states. Every one of our clients gives of their time, treasures, and talents to a nonprofit, and I believe all of them support more than one. 

The process of a business making a donation is often different than for an individual. Businesses invest in the communities in which they operate for a variety of reasons. Over the past few decades, I’ve observed companies making contributions—both to the nonprofits I lead or serve (The Spot on Kirk, Help Save The Next Girl Foundation, Healing Strides of Virginia)—and to other worthy organizations.

During a recent presentation I made to the partners of the Community Foundation of the New River Valley, I shared four reasons businesses usually give:

                                                                                                                                            To feel good

                                                                                                                                          To get attention

                                                                                                                                                 To help

                                                                                                                                   To exercise their passion

Naturally, some gifts are given in honor, in memoriam, or in recognition of someone or something, but bundle all the other business donations and you’ll find they fit neatly in one or all of these buckets.

How2Shift Your Approach

One-size-fits-all—except when it doesn’t.
 
If you’re a nonprofit or serve on the board of one, take a moment to look at the above list and help your executive director or director of advancement understand the impact of this information. Most nonprofits have their prepared selling presentation (aka, “canned approach”) and it’s usually focused on the good they do and the needs they have. So, continue to share those stories that lay out your organization’s mission and the projects that need funding.
 
At the same time, be sure to align the mission and needs of your nonprofit with your donor’s interests and reasons for supporting you. Doing that will make everything come together for the nonprofit and for the donor. It’s a win for everyone.
 
Taking this extra step also strengthens the meaningful connections and relationships you have with your donors. Additionally, the donor gains insight on how their support can provide a greater return on their investment. Help your donors make an even bigger difference by making a difference for them too. Grow together!

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Sometimes it can be easy to tell when out-of-towners are doing the marketing and advertising. There’s nothing wrong with hiring an out-of-town firm—in fact, we help clients all over the Southeast and have worked with businesses as far away as Michigan, Kansas, and California.

However, when you are missing familiarity with a region, it’s important you ask a lot of questions. Gather even more information than you might normally. Quite frankly, you need to learn to speak their language. I spent a few decades in Ohio and Michigan, and if you’re going to sell a cold carbonated beverage there, you’d better call it a “pop” and not a “soda.” Say “pop” in Virginia and you may just get a strange look, like you’ve just said “youz guys” instead of “y’all.”

It’s important when conducting business to ensure you are choosing your words and examples carefully. Everyone in Northwest Ohio knows how to pronounce Maumee just like Michiganders can locate The Thumb. Around Greater Roanoke, there is a specific way to pronounce Buena Vista and Staunton (Bew-na Vista and Stan-ton). And there’s no “s” in the Roanoke suburb called Cave Spring.

These are basic things you have to get right as a marketer, but it goes beyond the way cities and suburbs are pronounced or how to order a Coke.

"Ya Got2Know the Territory"

That statement comes from "The Music Man," one of the first musicals I ever saw. My parents loved plays—and that means I followed suit and learned my way around a show tune. In the movie version, Robert Preston starred as the traveling salesman, Professor Harold Hill. There are many famous songs from the Broadway show, but in "Rock Island" he sang energetically that "ya gotta know the territory." Ain't that the truth.

Choose your words carefully. It’s not just for a car wash. You must learn early that not every business has a customer. Some refer to them as clients, users, followers, or in the case of a medical practice, patients. Those words matter, so it’s best to talk that through with your prospect before you start a relationship. Beyond that, it’s wise to be completely confident that the targeted area is spelled correctly.

If this were the first time a billboard in our market depicted Cave Springs, then you could note it and move along. On the other hand, when you see it a few times, it’s suddenly fodder for a local writer to use as an example of focusing on the value of familiarity with language, pronunciation, and locations. And if you’re traveling through Roanoke, remember there’s only one spring, so it’s actually Crystal Spring and Cave Spring.