How to raise more money by making everyone hate your fundraising

This is one of the most difficult fundamental laws of fundraising, captured in Brooks' Fourth Law of Fundraising Animosity

There is a direct correlation between the power and effectiveness of fundraising writing and the number of people who hate it.

A Simplification to this troubling law is this:

The better your work, the more complaints you'll get.

It's simple and inescapable. It's probably because the best fundraising is that which taps into the emotional centers of the brain. It stirs action. But in some people, not the action you intend. Instead of being moved to donate, they feel moved to "shoot the messenger" -- that is, not to donate to help solve the problem, but to take steps toward keeping the message out of their lives.

This hatred for effective fundraising is most pronounced within nonprofit organizations. (Probably because they're paying more attention. But it affects outsiders too. Your strongest fundraising pieces will always generate the most complaints from the public. This, of course, feeds the antipathy of the insiders who hate it.

There are several interesting corollaries to this law:

The Offer Corollary

The more effective your fundraising offer, the more likely it is to be considered an abomination by everyone in your organization.

The Brand Corollary

Your most effective fundraising messages are -- or soon will be -- expressly forbidden by your brand guidelines.

The Important Donor Corollary

The most angry and articulate complaints from donors about fundraising come from long-lapsed low-dollar donors. Your boss will nevertheless consider this person's complaints to be commandments that must be obeyed.

A lot of what it takes to succeed in fundraising is learning to deal with the strange outcomes of the Fourth Law.

More Laws of Fundraising.

from Future Fundraising Now http://ift.tt/2j8tyJP