This Struck A Chord With 50,000 Nonprofit Leaders
So my goal is never to go viral.
My goal with my writing is to provide high-quality fundraising content for nonprofit executives and development leaders.
I try to be interesting.
I try to be relevant.
I try to be helpful.
And sometimes I even try to be provocative.
So last month, I shared a post on LinkedIn that reshared an article where I was interviewed. (check out the article here). (And if you’re not following me on LinkedIn, let’s connect).
I wanted to try to be a little provocative. But also, helpful, relevant and interesting.
And guess what?
It went viral. Like 50,000 impressions viral.
Here’s what I said in the LinkedIn Post (which you can see here):
Can I be brutally honest?
Even your donors that love you, like are obsessed with you, open all your emails, show up to events, give each year, and even like all your social media posts...
They are STILL not thinking about your nonprofit or your mission every day (or at least most are NOT).
They're thinking about daycare, car maintenance, what's for dinner, and their fantasy football team.
Look, it's tough. You have to break through the noise, but it's totally possible.
Recently, Sara Anguiano from CHMRC interviewed me about what nonprofits need to know right now.
Here's another brutally honest point nonprofits need to know -
I shared about speaking with a client. She had been meeting with a well-connected philanthropist multiple times and was confused about why she hadn’t donated.
My response: “Have you asked?”
She hadn’t.
I can't emphasize enough: You think you’re being clear, but you’re not. Be direct when soliciting donors for money.
So here’s the thing about this post that is shocking.
1) Its reach is 50,000 impressions. This is by far and away the highest level of impressions I’ve ever received for a social media post.
2) There is a typo in the original post. (Can you spot it?)
3) I’ve said this message in past posts so many times about the need to actually directly, explicitly ask your donors for donations and not assume they know you’re looking for funding.
Why could this matter to you?
Well first of all, my guess is you want your content to have far reach. I’m not the social media expert, and I think virality is a really tough strategy to go after, especially consistently.
But what have I found to help get your content seen?
Post consistently
Share interesting content
Engage with other content around the time when you post
Use your authentic voice.
If we were to have a conversation, you’d probably notice I speak exactly as I write. While you might be writing for a nonprofit and not your personal brand, how can you ensure that your copy matches your nonprofit’s voice and tone?
I also know that social media algorithms like more provocative statements.
Is it really that provocative to say that donors don’t think about your nonprofit all day every day and you need to actually ask them for donations?
No, it’s not.
But I didn’t sugarcoat.
So if you have a mission. And the mission isn’t always neat or simple or uplifting:
Be honest about that. Be direct in the problems but focused on how your organization is trying to solve the problem. Not just that there is a problem.
What can you learn from my typo?
Most people don’t actually read. They skim. And when something looks good enough, people don’t think twice about it.
So if you send out a big direct mail piece, or a proposal for a capital campaign gift, or a follow up note to thank your largest donor for their recent renewal, don’t worry too much if there is a small error.
It is not the worst thing to happen. Double check your work and then move on.
Finally, I can’t recommend enough how much you need to repeat your message.
You may have heard the pitch 1000 times.
But your donors have not.
They have not heard the stories.
They do not remember what was in an email from a year ago.
They do not recall what was shared in the impact report.
They did not read each detail about the new initiative launched nine months ago.
So say your message again.
Share the update again.
Tell them again why something matters.
Send another email.
Leave another voicemail.