What really drives giving?

[Michael Pollock]

I've had couple of interesting discussions with two very different
organizations. I will fudge the specifics as I don't want to betray
anyone's confidence. In each case I spent some time thinking that
their wonderful social causes might be the drivers for their
enormously successful fundraisers. They are both successful
organizations addressing demonstrable need and truly saving lives.

But in the one case we agreed that the wealthy and attractive young
people who come again and again to the parties and give most
generously are really not interested in the mission at all - they came
"to find a husband." We discussed putting some of these "match-
making" successes on their website - nothing at all to do with their
admirable and important mission but an important driver of revenue.

For the other organization we were discussing a video and printed
materials for the annual dinner event. There were terrific and moving
images available showing the desperate need for their good work, and
the evidence of their success was clear. But it was decided that the
people who would be attending the event and who would be bringing
their checkbooks would not be moved by addressing the human misery
that was the organization's focus. What would move them was a video
that showed and celebrated them, themselves, the donors and all their
generosity.

Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. So says the Book of Ecclesiastes.
I know because I checked it on answers.com. By the way, all the
targeted ads on that page are for bathroom fixtures. Perhaps that is
what Solomon was really talking about.

[owen]

You may want to think twice about
"- putting some of these 'match-making' successes on their website -"
you may scare away some of the potential donors ; ^ )

Owen

[ste...@aol.com]

One could only hope it might scare away some of them.....

Owen

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[Michael Pollock]

When I was very first in the ad business in London, I saw a
presentation about a controversial ad campaign - for Shredded Wheat,
believe it or not. They knew who was likely to buy the cereal and
they had no qualms about alienating the mothers who were never going
to buy it. And alienate them they did: with a campaign that sang
"There are two men in my life. to one I am a mother, the other I'm a
wife." But they sold more Shredded Wheat than ever to the wives and
mothers who identified with that line. That was in the days of broad
marketing - in the UK at the time there was only one commercial TV
channel! Imagine that.
A website visitor doesn't have to look at everything. You can help
people self-select to view certain material that will attract them.
"Bucketing" in effect - so that people who are interested in the
mission can be sent to one place whereas people who are interested in
the parties can be sent to another.
There are so many party photo sites - people love to see their
picture the day after. The New York Times understands that so well -
I bet you look at the gala pix every week. And the NYT (An honored
Cyrano Project supporter, by the way) also understands the desire to
know how people got together and marry. Every Sunday on the weddings
page we see this stuff.
So while admittedly I originally suggested the "who met who" feature
as a joke - I wonder if it really isn't a rather good idea.

[Jose...@gmail.com]

My bet is that the functionality could be implemented pretty quickly
and cheaply.
Why not try it, track it, and find it out if it works. It my opinion,
it passes the plausibility test.

Michael

On Jul 9, 9:45 am, Michael Pollock <eloque...@cyranoproject.org>
wrote: