Are You Authentic -- Part 2

Earlier this week, I talked about how crucial it is to know your organizational identity. If you don't know who you are as an organization, how are you going to convince people that you're worth giving to?

But just as important is Knowing Your Audience.

One of my clients has a picture taped above his desk. It's about the size of a school photo, but it's of a woman in her sixties, her smiling face framed by a halo of curly white hair. He calls her Velma.

Velma is the person he writes to. Every sentence he types on his computer is aimed at Velma. He's though up a whole biography for Velma, and he knows what motivates her to give to his organization.

There are lots of ways to uncover tidbits about your audience. Focus groups, surveys, five-question online polls, and other tools can tell you what issues they say the care most about. (Although often people will say they care about one issue, while actually giving to other issues, so it's critical to examine actual giving histories if you want to know the truth.) Analyze your file, and you can discover the average age, income level and education level of your donors. This is handy information, of course.

But when you approach your donors to ask them for money, are you really going to say, "I know most of you care about Our Very Important Issue and earn an average of $80,000/year, so won't you please donate to our Very Important Cause?"

Nope. (I hope not!) Instead, you take that information and use it to find your Velma. Who is she? What does she expect from you, and what motivates her to give? What stories can you tell her to bond her even further with your organization?

Next up: Keeping It Real.