Anger is one of the best emotions that you can arouse in a
donor. Anger is a healthy emotion, particularly when your
fundraising letter offers donors a way to assuage their anger.
"Individuals are more prone to respond to a genuine feeling of
anger than to any other emotion," says Roland Kiniholm in his
book,
Maximum Gifts by Return Mail.
To make your donors angry, you need a villain. Villains are
good. They help you focus your donors' attention on one problem
that needs fixing. That villain can be a person or a problem.
My advice is that you never name a particular person as your
villain, since doing so is not very charitable, excuse the pun.
Plus, you might get sued for defamation of character or slander.
Instead, you should attack the catastrophe that the villain has
created, or simply make the catastrophe the villain.
* Mothers Against Drunk Driving has a villain: drunk driving
(not drunken drivers)
* The Coalition Against Gun Violence has a villain: gun violence
(not gun owners)
* Oxfam has a villain: poverty (not the wealthy)
* Habitat for Humanity has a villain: unaffordable housing (not
landlords)
Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast of the United States last
week. The response by the US federal government to the plight of
tens of thousands of refugees stranded in New Orleans was so
slow that hundreds likely perished. For days, we saw the images
on our television screens of stranded citizens dying in New
Orleans while help tarried.
In your fundraising letter to raise funds for these hurricane
victims, you could name President Bush as your villain. You
could blame the plight of the displaced people on Federal
Emergency Management Agency director Michael Brown, who many are
saying is responsible for the delays that caused so many deaths.
Or you could blame the mayor of New Orleans. But these attacks
would sound unkind. And painting any of these men as the villain
right now would be premature.
Instead, a successful appeal letter would paint the hurricane as
the villain. Or point the finger at the flooding as the villain.
Your fundraising campaign can have a villain and still be
positive. The Red Cross, for example, is running a fundraising
campaign right now with this theme: Hope is Stronger than a
Hurricane. There's only one thing wrong with that theme. I
didn't think of it.
If you want to stir up one of the strongest human emotions to
your advantage, chose a villain that your donors can get angry
at. Then show how your non-profit organization can alleviate
that anger by eliminating (or, more realistically, weakening)
that villain.
More Information:Alan Sharpe is a professional fundraising letter writer, instructor, coach, author and newsletter publisher who helps non-profit organizations to raise funds, build relationships and retain loyal donors using cost-effective, compelling, creative fundraising letters. Sign up for free weekly tips like this at
http://www.RaiserSharpe.com/ 
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