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Whenever you write your newsletters, draft your emails to donors, or come up with some other content that’s going out to the people, who pay for your organization to do the work it does, how do you decide what content to convey?
Are you conveying the stories that tell donors what matters most?
It’s easy to tell the story of how you went to Africa, how you fed 5,000 people, and how your donors can do more. The problem with How is that it doesn’t convey passion. Why conveys passion.
If you care deeply about helping less fortunate people in Africa, your Why story helps people identify with you. How only helps them connect if they have actually done that type of work before.
Which of these opens you up to more people, How or Why?
Why because it only asks that people think like you. How asks that people act like you. And not only that, Why builds passion.
Think about the last time someone tried to convince you that a TV show was great. They told you all about why it is great: why the dialogue is so interesting, why the action is so intense, or why story lines are so fascinating. And, if you are the type of person that likes that type of dialogue, action, or story lines, you understood why they watch the show. You probably even envisioned yourself watching the show. They asked that you think about it like they do, and you did.
The value of your content and your message is in the Why, not in the How.
How is good now and then. Knock people’s socks off with how you fed so many, how many hours you put in, and so on, but How won’t make people feel closer to you, make them care, or make them envision helping you with the work you do.
So, next time you think about the value of your content to your donors, think about why you do the work you do, why donors should care, and why donors should be motivated enough to donate.
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Tags: content value, donor's perspective, how versus why, nonprofit content
October 5th, 2010 at 10:38 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Eric Pratum, Grizzard Comm Group. Grizzard Comm Group said: New on Grizzard.Com Nonprofit content value from the donor’s perspective: How vs Why: Subscribe to this blog via e… http://bit.ly/d2kSkT [...]
October 5th, 2010 at 11:04 am
The reason of WHY is always greater than the technique of HOW. There may be a 100 different HOWs for a given thing, but knowing WHY you would do it is the reason to approach something in the first place.
Interesting that I see a lot of HOW TO articles on the internet, but not nearly as many WHY articles. (Always drawn more to the last type, btw.)
Great article to get you thinking!
October 5th, 2010 at 11:55 am
Thanks, David. The irony here is that I love how-tos…but I have to admit that demonstrating and explaining how will only get you so much. I can identify with a professional athlete that talks about why s/he loves the game. I probably can't if s/he tells me how to play it…unless I've played that game somewhere near that level.