What Non Profits can Learn from the 2010 Election Season

We are at the pinnacle of the 2010 political season and the fundraising records are piling up. Why do Americans have this great love for the sport of politics, and are willing to part with their hard earned dollars to get someone elected, but they won’t donate $100 to help the poor/save the environment/improve education/put your favorite cause here?

Besides the fact that democracy and supporting the candidates who best represent our views is how our system works, why has political fundraising become such a huge part of our fundraising landscape?

Keep your old poli-sci books on your shelf. I won’t dive into the pros & cons of the McCain Feingold Campaign Reform Act and the rise of the political fundraising machine. What political campaigns have over the rest of the world is a built in SENSE OF URGENCY.


You MUST create a sense of urgency

The great thing about political campaigns is that they have a federally mandated finish line, a final moment on that first Tuesday in November. If I want my candidate to win, I have to step up and give him/her my wooden nickel so they can buy yet another TV ad or drive one more elderly voter to the polling station. If I don’t help the candidate early enough, they can’t spend my money so it makes a difference. Even in politics, donors don’t get off the giving stick until election day is within sight.

How does this relate to my non-profit?

If I am a supporter of your non-profit, what difference does it make if I give you a donation today or next week, or maybe in December… if I get my bonus… if I remember after all that glögg? You MUST give the donor a reason to “act now!” (think late-night infomercial). You are competing with thousands of good causes, and millions of distractions. Without a deadline, your donor probably has something else they should be doing right now that is more fun than parting with money.

Get creative and fabricate a finish line. Let me get you started.

Offer “exclusive” stuff:

- First 50 donors get a copy of my signed book (once I pick a topic and get it written).

- Anyone who gives over $500 gets a team jacket (I walked into this one when my college pulled it on me).

Offer Access (popular among the political types):

- If we get your gift today, you get a photo-op with me.

- The first two $10K donors get lunch and an afternoon skiing with me.

- Go collect a couple million dollars from your friends in $2,400 increments and I will let you be ambassador to France.

Schedule Events:

- Tickets to Reunion/Winter Formal/Dancing in the Park.

- ___-a-thons, Road Races, Tournaments

I think you get the idea. Go create a sense of urgency that best fits your organization and the dollars will come.