Blog
A Key to Your Fundraising Success: Stories
By Amy Wachtel
Vice President, Ministry & Creative Services
BBS & Associates
As astounding and upsetting as this truth might be, it’s important to know: a donor is not automatically inspired to give just because your cause is great.
What you say and how you say it matters!
Donors must be inspired …. captivated … feel their worth in relation to your cause … and they must be repeatedly assured that you cannot do what you do without them.
A great, well-worded, emotion-generating story accomplishes all of this and more!
We’ve developed an e-book to help you harness the power of a story in your communications — you can download it here.
Sharing actual results in an emotive way is key to affirming the impact your donors are making … a homeless woman who got a job — an abused child rescued and thriving — a troubled marriage saved — a drug addict delivered — a suicide averted — religious freedom protected.
At BBS & Associates, we often refer to this as “SOTO” — the Story Of The One.
SOTO engages the donor because it’s about another human being, and it’s someone affirming the truthfulness of the ministry’s pitch as well as the value of the donor’s participation.
It’s someone saying, “I know firsthand that this ministry does what it says, and it’s awesome.”
You can never talk too much about the success of your ministry and how the donor’s involvement makes it happen. SOTO is one of the most effective ways to do this!
Want to know more? At BBS, we’ve got you covered …