Whether you are looking for unrestricted or project-based fundraising, your campaign must be optimized according to the funding you seek. You must therefore master the development of your fundraising arguments. This article summarizes the main points of the free webinar organized in partnership with GiveXpert, which you can watch in French on this link or by clicking on the video below.
1 – What are the fundamentals of an effective fundraising campaign?
To avoid wasting time and resources on poorly conceived or improperly conducted campaigns, you should always have a core set of elements to develop your campaign.
It’s simple, but it’s relevant to all of the fundraising activities you will undertake, whatever they may be.
a. Project-based campaign
This is obvious but widely ignored by most non-profit organizations: the essential component is to have a solid and well-designed project, including:
- a well-defined context/issue with impactful data showing the magnitude of the problem;
- clear objectives;
- the uniqueness / added value of your intervention;
- a detailed profile of the beneficiaries/people you are supporting;
- your performance indicators to demonstrate the long-term impact;
- a well-structured and clear budget.
With a project-based campaign, your goal is to create the desire among your donors or prospects to have an immediate concrete impact.
Please note that in the case of a project campaign, the funds collected must be destined to finance the said project.
b. Collecting unrestricted donations
A campaign is not necessarily built around a project. In order to collect unrestricted donations or non-dedicated funds, it is also possible to run campaigns that encompass all or part of the organization’s activities, or target the core of its mission.
It is then necessary to have a 5-year operational plan / long-term vision / program that brings together your pillars with:
- the problem you seek to solve
- how / via which initiatives and activities
- your long-term KPIs (key performance indicators)
- your budget / financial needs to be able to achieve this goal
Here, your goal is to create the desire in your donors or prospects to be part of something bigger, the desire to be part of a long-term vision.
When you have these elements, it is much easier to design your campaign!
c. Defining your target audience and the goal of the campaign
In addition to the content, it is essential to know who you are addressing, who you are targeting and what your goal is in activating each target. We can categorize this audience into three groups:
- Your target is unknown: This is a first or a testing campaign targeting a new type of audience with whom you have not interacted and whose interests you do not know. So your objective will be to attract them, arouse their curiosity and find points of convergence.
- Your target is partially known: You know whom you are addressing, but they are not active donors or supporters. In this case, there are two possible objectives:
- To inform: you should create a closer link and interest in the cause
- Create trust: you show your impact to build credibility
- Your target is known: You interact with them regularly; they already know about your cause and are interested in it. Two objectives are possible:
- Engage: you work to create a sense of belonging, a desire for action, fostering active participation to then ask for a donation
- Build loyalty: you drive to motivate long-term commitment, possibly even asking your donors to act as relays or ambassadors for your cause.
2 – How to structure your pitch?
The pitch is built in three stages:
a. The tagline:
- Grab attention by giving “shocking” facts and statistics (positive or negative)
- Create a link by showing how the problem concerns the readers
- Why you are best suited to address the issue: who you are, the value of the project and its impact
Focus on the issue by making the cause close to the reader.
b. The body of the text:
- Briefly describe your vision or project
- Prove your value by focusing on a specific concrete impact(s)
- Develop your uniqueness: What differentiates your non-profit organization from others in the same field? How effective are your current programmes? Do you have any incredible impact stories? What do you intend to achieve in the future?
You lean mainly on your Unique Selling Proposition and your impact assessment indicators.
c. The conclusion:
- Make a specific request showing how the donation will make an impact by using donation equivalencies.
Examples :
- Make a one-time or monthly donation
- Register as a peer-to-peer fundraiser
- Make an in-kind donation
- Share our campaign on social networks
Your goal and your ask will shape the content of your pitch. There are thus many versions of the pitch! The hardest part of this exercise is finding a good balance between being convincing and not overloading your audience with too much information.
3 – How do you rephrase your campaign to make it compelling for the general public?
a. Rephrase your objectives and content to make it accessible to everyone by being as concrete and empathic as possible (forget the industry jargon!).
Example:
- NO – Fostering community-led systemic change in maternal, newborn and child health in rural Ethiopia.
- YES – Train midwives in the most remote areas of Ethiopia so that mothers can have a chance to give birth safely.
- BETTER – Every mother should be able to give birth safely and securely – act with us to train midwives in the most remote areas of Ethiopia.
b. Think first and foremost about communicating the ultimate concrete result or impact, especially if you are working on complex issues like human rights.
Example:
- NO – Promoting the protection of indigenous communities, their human rights and environmental justice in Guatemala.
Avoid talking about UN mechanisms, meetings or engagement with the UN Council.
- YES – Help indigenous communities in Guatemala to have the means to defend their livelihoods from water projects that devastate their environment.
Try to think about the impact of your action, even if it is long-term.
c. Use clear and meaningful headlines.
Example:
- NO – Issue
- YES – Ethiopia: a scandalous maternal mortality rate
- NO – Support us
- YES – Support our work to …
d. Think about the visual design; photos often convey more information than text.
e. Testimonials and anything that makes your campaign more human or lively are essential.
f. The aim is to get the message through. Put yourself in the reader’s shoes. If possible, share your campaign with friends or family and ask for their feedback. It’s even better if they are not from the sector.
4 – How to define your donation equivalencies?
a. Why using donation equivalency?
Donation equivalencies are the direct relationship between the donation amount and what can be done with that amount.
This is the most effective way of showing donors the impact and the difference they can make by committing themselves to support your activities, projects or your mission.
b. How do you create them?
Simply by using your well-prepared budget.
Your budget lines will help you to find the most motivating financial elements for your donors. You should therefore avoid all the project’s administrative, management and coordination aspects and concentrate on the activities themselves: purchase of equipment, training sessions, workshops, covering the costs for one person, etc.
Warning: the amounts should remain small, so adapt them!
Examples:
- Decrease the duration (number of days, months)
- Decrease the number of beneficiaries (for one child instead of 100)
- Identify small but essential tasks/activities
c. How to formulate them?
Always in a simple and concrete way! Make it as simple as possible so it can be understood in a second.
Example:
- NO – Capacity building in climate change mitigation
- YES – 1 workshop to teach 30 farmers to save water
Be careful with your writing; the equivalencies remain only examples and cannot generate a commitment from the organization to use the value specified for one item in its budget plan.
Example:
- NO – With 50€ / CHF, we will buy a student’s school material for one year
- YES – With your 50€ / CHF support, we would be able to buy a student’s school material for one year
- YES – With 50€ / CHF, we could … / could allow the purchase of…
In conclusion
The exercise of building a campaign pitch is not as simple as it sounds. It requires a good foundation and strong writing skills. Practice and have your texts proofread. With practice, it gets easier!
Do you need expertise and support for your organization? Let’s talk about it!
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