You’ve probably heard thousands of stories in your lifetime. Don’t believe me? Consider every bedtime story ever read to you as a child, every storybook and novel you read on your own, every ballad and psalm you’ve heard, every opera and play, every movie and TV show, every parable and folktale, every tall tale told by a friend or water cooler weekend recap from a co-worker, every fanciful fib from a child, and yes, every narrative from your favourite charitable organization.
We are a species of stories.
We’re hardwired for them. Stories make our brains happy. Quite literally.
Stories—ones that follow a clear narrative arc and appeal to our emotions—release chemicals like dopamine, cortisol and oxytocin. From a neuroscience perspective, these chemicals get us to pay attention, become more alert, feel good, and create emotional bonds and connections.
A good story is fundraising gold. And, not just in an annual appeal or campaign video. You can use a compelling story in your legacy giving outreach as well to engage people in considering a gift.
Top three tips for telling good fundraising stories
(For more on how to tell great fundraising stories — check out Storytelling Can Change the World by Ken Burnett.)
Personalization
I’m sure you’ve had the experience of getting a piece of mail addressed to “Dear Occupant”, or maybe one step better, “Dear Friend”. How do you feel when you get something like that?
Personally, I take one quick look at the piece of the mail in question. If it’s from a generic organization that I have no connection to, I assume it’s not for me, and toss it in the recycling bin.
However, if I get something that says “Dear Friend” and it’s from an organization I am connected to? Well, then I’m more likely to think that is just laziness or incompetence to not address me by my name.
Just as we are hardwired for stories, we are hardwired to respond to our own name. It’s a phase of human development called self-representation. It begins to take shape in the first year of life—at about the same time we start to recognize ourselves in the mirror.
Dale Carnegie knew well the power of using people’s names. In his book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, he says that a person’s name is the most important word in any language to them. We should use it often and respect it.
Powerful people love seeing their name too
It is said that when Donald Trump first became President of the United States and his staff was struggling to get him to read his daily briefings, one of the tricks they used was to pepper his name into the text so he would read the most important lines!
This excerpt is from Aimée Lindenberger’s second book in her Legacy Essentials series—How to Engage Potential Legacy Donors: Your Guide to Legacy Lead Generation. Aimée’s first book, How to Talk About Legacy Giving, is a detailed dive on crafting your legacy messaging. By both and save $8 with discount code LEGACY2!
