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Donations 101.
Oct. 12th, 2005 10:53 amI have often been in the position of being a donor to various causes. I've also been in the position of soliciting donations over the last twenty years.
I was also the complaintant bringing charges in a court case involving donation fraud, so this is a very touchy subject.
I have been asked to request donations before in my journal, and I said no then as well. So let me make this a policy: I do not solicit donations on anyone's behalf in this journal. I never have.
I will ask people to make phone calls. To be politically active. I may even mention a donation I have made (though probably not). I may ask people to offer their time in a rally, or a fic-a-thon.
The reasons for this are that when I ask people to donate to something, I'm putting my reputation and relationship with them on the line. That organization I'd point people to represents me. I rarely know any cause well enough to do that, and in LJ I don't really know people well enough to ask. It's crass, I feel, to panhandle in LJ.
Second, as my childhood mentor told me (the 10th largest private donor to the United Negro College Fund; she really knew what she was talking about) there is so much wrong in the world "you have to pick your battles." I've followed her advice and I have one specific cause that I support. Only rarely do I go outside that.
That said, if you are someone who wishes to solicit donations, here are some general ground rules gained from my experience:
1) Have a plan.
Know exactly where you are asking people to donate to and how it will be used. No one likes to donate to a black hole. Without this information you're wasting your time.
2) Have documentation to prove that you're legit, or that the organizations you're supporting are legit.
Most people have encountered scams at one time or another. Just pop open your hotmail account, read the spam, and tell me how much of that you think is legit. Some scams are very sophisticated, like the infamous Bit Of Earth scam.
3) Know the people you are contacting.
Cold calls - as any telemarketer can tell you - have a high rate of "no." Marketers find out as much as they can first. Most donations require some sort of personal connection.
Do not ever spam. It will turn people off to the entire cause.
4) Know the situation of the persons you are contacting whenever possible. In other words, give a damn about the people that you want to care about you.
This is one of the biggest mistakes people soliciting donations make. It's very common. The assumption is that people give because you have a worthy cause, but in reality they don't. There are so many worthy causes that people give because they've made a personal connection with you.
With direct mail you can't know anything, but with high roller donors you usually need a connection anyway and that means you can do a little recon. You're asking people to turn over their hard-earned money, or their grandfather's legacy. That's worth developing a relationship and taking a moment to care about the other person.
In LJ it's easy to know a little about the lives of those you're talking to. Hell, whenever I have a request to make of any kind, I'll check someone's LJ first so I'm not bugging them for a fic-a-thon entry when their aunt Mabel just died.
5) If you're given a no, don't push it, and be gracious.
Sometimes that "no" is borderline and they'll help you next time. Sometimes people say no, think about it, and call you back. Sometimes they'll mention your cause to someone else who does say yes. You don't know, so every relationship is valuable.
Getting angry and arguing is very stupid.
So is guilt-tripping. As soon as someone looking for donations plays on guilt I immediately write them off.
I'm posting this as a service, and I dearly hope that I haven't just trained con-artists to be more competent. Though I don't think so. Weirdly enough, con-artists have a better sense that the personal relationship with the donor is what's important. People with legitimate causes are usually so caught up in the passion of their cause that they don't understand why they're ineffective. Then they get angry at the lack of caring in the world when they hit the roadblocks they created.
I was also the complaintant bringing charges in a court case involving donation fraud, so this is a very touchy subject.
I have been asked to request donations before in my journal, and I said no then as well. So let me make this a policy: I do not solicit donations on anyone's behalf in this journal. I never have.
I will ask people to make phone calls. To be politically active. I may even mention a donation I have made (though probably not). I may ask people to offer their time in a rally, or a fic-a-thon.
The reasons for this are that when I ask people to donate to something, I'm putting my reputation and relationship with them on the line. That organization I'd point people to represents me. I rarely know any cause well enough to do that, and in LJ I don't really know people well enough to ask. It's crass, I feel, to panhandle in LJ.
Second, as my childhood mentor told me (the 10th largest private donor to the United Negro College Fund; she really knew what she was talking about) there is so much wrong in the world "you have to pick your battles." I've followed her advice and I have one specific cause that I support. Only rarely do I go outside that.
That said, if you are someone who wishes to solicit donations, here are some general ground rules gained from my experience:
1) Have a plan.
Know exactly where you are asking people to donate to and how it will be used. No one likes to donate to a black hole. Without this information you're wasting your time.
2) Have documentation to prove that you're legit, or that the organizations you're supporting are legit.
Most people have encountered scams at one time or another. Just pop open your hotmail account, read the spam, and tell me how much of that you think is legit. Some scams are very sophisticated, like the infamous Bit Of Earth scam.
3) Know the people you are contacting.
Cold calls - as any telemarketer can tell you - have a high rate of "no." Marketers find out as much as they can first. Most donations require some sort of personal connection.
Do not ever spam. It will turn people off to the entire cause.
4) Know the situation of the persons you are contacting whenever possible. In other words, give a damn about the people that you want to care about you.
This is one of the biggest mistakes people soliciting donations make. It's very common. The assumption is that people give because you have a worthy cause, but in reality they don't. There are so many worthy causes that people give because they've made a personal connection with you.
With direct mail you can't know anything, but with high roller donors you usually need a connection anyway and that means you can do a little recon. You're asking people to turn over their hard-earned money, or their grandfather's legacy. That's worth developing a relationship and taking a moment to care about the other person.
In LJ it's easy to know a little about the lives of those you're talking to. Hell, whenever I have a request to make of any kind, I'll check someone's LJ first so I'm not bugging them for a fic-a-thon entry when their aunt Mabel just died.
5) If you're given a no, don't push it, and be gracious.
Sometimes that "no" is borderline and they'll help you next time. Sometimes people say no, think about it, and call you back. Sometimes they'll mention your cause to someone else who does say yes. You don't know, so every relationship is valuable.
Getting angry and arguing is very stupid.
So is guilt-tripping. As soon as someone looking for donations plays on guilt I immediately write them off.
I'm posting this as a service, and I dearly hope that I haven't just trained con-artists to be more competent. Though I don't think so. Weirdly enough, con-artists have a better sense that the personal relationship with the donor is what's important. People with legitimate causes are usually so caught up in the passion of their cause that they don't understand why they're ineffective. Then they get angry at the lack of caring in the world when they hit the roadblocks they created.
