Does your fundraising conversation with donors look like this:
Or is it more like this?
We tend to sell tools: tax-deductions, planned giving tools, stock transfers. We get all wrapped up in them.
Fundraising tools should always be secondary.
Donors are more interested in, and motivated by, the why.
As you set your goals for 2009, why not set a goal to focus more on the impact your organization is making, rather than the tools?
These images are “wordles.” Check out other ones at: Wordle.net. I’ve also played with putting them on a few items at CafePress.com. 
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8 responses so far ↓
1 Susan/Together We Flourish // Nov 23, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Nice post! Your message is important for the nonprofits to hear.. I hope that you don’t mind if I link your posts to my blog from time to time.
2 Marc A. Pitman // Nov 23, 2008 at 8:42 pm
Not at all. Isn’t it easier to see it in picture-format?
Did you see the coffee mug with this? It’s at:
http://www.cafepress.com/askwithoutfear
3 Nick Fellers // Nov 25, 2008 at 9:41 am
Marc – great post. Told our readership about it this morning. Thx. NJF
4 Marc A. Pitman // Nov 25, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Thanks Nick.
I love how Wordle made our organization’s name (Inland) REALLY prominent in the fundraiser-esque image but pretty small on the donor-esque image!
5 Fundraising Secret #28: Storytelling ideas for fundraising & nonprofit marketing | FundraisingCoach.com // Dec 2, 2008 at 9:47 am
[...] Donor-centered fundraising or schpeal-centered? [...]
6 Word Cloud in Caylee Anthony Case. « Citizenkim’s Weblog // Dec 17, 2008 at 10:16 pm
[...] thanks to Marc at The Fundraising Coach for [...]
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8 Twitter lists and branding according to Jay Baer and Wordle // Nov 22, 2009 at 10:48 pm
[...] Wordle.net. You may remember that exactly a year ago, I used Wordle to show if our appeals were donor-centered fundraising appeals or schpeal-centered. So it was fun to go back to Wordle to check this [...]
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