If you have followed my articles and read my book, then you know I enjoy the old time radio shows. I appreciate the way they teach us about storytelling. Without the benefits of TV and the sense of sight, they do an amazing job of “painting a picture”. They draw you in to a story with just enough information. They explain the setting and get you comfortable with the characters, often in 20 minutes or less.
One of my favorites is “The man with the action packed expense account, Johnny Dollar”
He weaves a story around the many expenses he would add to an expense account on a single case. Some of the expenses are very mundane like a phone call or postage. Others are more extravagant like travel or a bribe. Then there are others that raise your eyebrows like a truck full of fire extinguishers.
As curious as the truck full of fire extinguishers is, the greatest aspects stories come with the phone call, postage or taxi ride. For example, the 60 cents, 80 cents, and 75 cents he spent in taxi rides chasing down a lead in San Francisco.
In today’s world, we can do so much digitally and everyone carries a phone in their pocket, that the concept of a pay phone, long distance charges and a stamp seem antiquated. However, the mundane expenses that nonprofits deal with are no less ordinary.
When I served with the Red Cross, we talked about care kits. A toothbrush, toothpaste, washcloth and deodorant seem insignificant. To someone that just lost everything in a fire, it is a chance to feel a little normal. To a child that just watched their home go up in a blaze, a dollar store coloring book and pack of crayons allows them to focus on something other than what they lost. In total, this is about $10 of regular expenses for the Red Cross.
When we explain specifically what $10 can provide to a mother and a child, these items when listed and explained provide a powerful image for donors.
If you were to review the expenses for any non-profit, there are interesting stories to share.
I often counsel organizations to look at their expenses to find values at every level to inspire donors. It could be $15 for a haircut for youth before they go into court or on a job interview; it could be $180 for mattress and box spring for a victim of domestic abuse starting over in a new residence.
In the fundraising world, these explanations are called giving guidance, dollar handles, or donation tracks. Regardless of the name, they help a donor understand their impact.
Donors understand that nonprofits can’t get everything donated in the time that one of their clients needed, or that donated items expire before they are used. Many nonprofits negotiate deals on the regular needs of their clients that are better than the public can purchase the items.
Donors want to understand that the amount they give makes an impact, not just a drop in the bucket. They want to believe they are making a difference in an individual in a positive way.
This is the concept behind the starfish parable. “To this one I made a difference”
I invite you to create your own stories around “An action packed expense account” and help your donors to understand the impact they make around their contributions.
As impressive as info-graphs that provide large numbers of the people you help or the funds it takes to run your organization. It is the individual story, the statistic of one, is what motivates donors.
