Relationship Fundraising 3.0

Philanthropic psychology and your {July SMARTplan}

Photo by Kristopher Roller on Unsplash

Love lights up the whole world.

In this edition, I will point you to one of the most profound resources for understanding effective and sustainable fundraising. You won’t find the slick direct mail hired gun firms reading here. The frenetic new-cause-a-minute crew skipped this golden corner.

The Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy, a luminary of distinguished and honorable fundraising practices, “exists to grow the human capacity to love.” It sounds somewhat overly ethereal. Digging into the WHY behind the gift changes perspective, and the boldness of the statement makes all the sense.

The Institute marries practical science and testing with a deep understanding of the identity and motivation of donors as persons. Their website is laden with fascinating reports and studies. Today, they released a jarring one—so jarring I decided to devote this edition to highlight it.

THIS STUDY— Relationship Fundraising 3.0 — compiles “four years of experiments with fundraising communications showing uplifts in excess of 100% in real-world giving.”

In plain English, using words to convey a commitment to know and honor the identity of your donors, foster trust, and provide a pathway to partake in transformation showed stunning increases in giving.

Have fun nerding out on this report — page 12 is when it gets juicy. You will need to give your email to download it, but you won’t regret it.

Let’s Grow in Love!

JULY SMARTplan is below for my paid subscribers!