Reason vs. Emotion

A neurologist once said, “The difference between emotion and reason is that emotion leads to action, while reason leads to thinking.”

As a fundraiser, wouldn’t you agree that what you want is action rather than a lot of thinking?

Rescigno’s once worked with a very well-known religious organization that raised lots of money but whose program had been stagnant for a number of years before hiring us to re-invigorate their annual giving program.  The VP of Development there and I used to engage in spirited conversations on this topic of action vs. thinking.

I’d tell him, “Jason (not his real  name), you’re doing too much educating and not enough inspiring. You need to dumb your letter down and appeal to your readers’ hearts instead of their brains.” He didn’t agree. He’d tell me, “My provincial superior and I both agree that our donors are very educated and would be put off, if not downright insulted, if we communicated with them the way you’re suggesting.”

Too bad. As I mentioned earlier, this religious institution doesn’t hurt for money. They get their fair share and then some.

Ultimately, we did help them re-invigorate their program by creating a calendar of regular communications, emphasizing the importance  of donor retention, and creating a new donor welcome strategy. They could have raised more, though. Probably a lot more.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that presenting carefully reasoned appeals for support are going to help your organization raise boatloads of money. Time after time, it’s emotional, passionate appeals that help to change the world and, by the way, pay the bills.

So lead with emotion in your appeal writing.  And remember, it’s relatively easy to write about logical stuff or what some call “institutional speak.”

Finally, it is my strong suggestion that your appeals be written at around the 7^th grade level. As to the objection of my client and friend at the religious institution, my advice stands the same today as it did then: stir the emotions before trying to appeal to your donors on an intellectual level.