Boo! Avoid Scaring Nonprofit Donors Away

Here are three tricks to avoid scaring your nonprofit donors away.

1. Viewing the donor as a transaction rather than a person. This includes little to no one-on-one conversations throughout the year (eek!), no reports or updates on what the donor's support is making possible (gasp!), and asking for a renewed gift without doing the first two items on this list (SHAME!).

2. Muddying your message. It's downright spooky not to offer clear, consistent information and stories--on your website, social media, the press, events--about what you do, who you serve, and the measurable difference you make. If you don't tell people exactly what you're doing, how will they understand why support is needed? Shudder.

3. Conveying desperation instead of determination. Nonprofit work is always hard, and the pandemic has made this work even harder and more important than ever. However, desperate pleas for cash don't engender confidence in any donors. Instead, convey urgency through what your constituents and the community need now. Don't lead with the precarious financial state your nonprofit's in. An organization perceived as faltering could scare donors away...forever! Mwahahahah.