One of my all-time favorite books is How to Win Friends and Influence People because it hinges on an important human truth: we are the center of our own personal universes.
As magnanimous and thoughtful as we might be, we are all still the stars of our own movies.
For me to be a raving fan and donor, you must get yes to two questions:
- Do I matter to you?
- Does this cause matter to me?
If I matter to you (and you to me), I might give because I care about you. I have friends and family who will give to any cause I’m attached to just because they love me. But, I’m never going to be a loyal donor to the cause (as opposed to the person who asked me) if you don’t make the cause matter to me. You can move people along the continuum towards mattering to me through storytelling, exposure to the work and triggering my empathy.
If the cause matters to me, but I don’t feel that I matter to the organization or the person who asked me, I may give a one-time gift or small gifts, but you’ll never get the big gift. This is such a golden opportunity to love up on your donors. As a sector, this is where we fail and why our retention rates are so bad.
And is this just an ego-trip for a donor?
No, not at all.
Instead, this is just a basic human need to be seen and to belong. Nobody likes feeling like they don’t have a seat at the cafeteria table.
Obviously, the sweet spot and the opportunity to grow ever-deepening relationships is when I feel like I matter to you and that the cause matters to me. These are your people and they should be where you spend the bulk of your energy.
Finally, it’s almost not worth discussing the quadrant where you have no affinity or relationship except to say that it’s worthless to expend energy on it. The amount of energy expended and the potential ROI is close to nil. In other words, stop chasing Oprah.
How might you spend your time differently if you plotted your best donors and prospects on this chart?
