Stories that Donors Can Tell

23 Feb Stories that Donors Can Tell

24 February 2026

By David Allen, Development for Conservation

Try on these shoes and see if they fit:

• • • Many people ask themselves (perhaps unconsciously) why they should pay for something that is freely provided. That’s why fundraising consultants focus on making the case for giving and actually asking in ALL outreach and marketing materials. (Marketing consultants are more concerned with brand recognition – not wrong, just different.) We should regularly share with prospective donors that the “free” stuff they are regularly accessing is actually paid for by people just like them who give money. If they are appreciating the value, they can give money, too – it’s easy! And important.
    • Asking for a range of values is the same as asking for the lowest number in the range. For example, “please consider a gift this year of $25, $50, or $100” is the functional equivalent of “please consider a gift this year of $25.” Are there exceptions – people responding with gifts of $100 or even more? Of course. But the existence of exceptions doesn’t disprove the rule.
    • The same rule applies for actions. “Please share/like, volunteer, give money, or leave us in your will” is the functional equivalent of “please share/like.”
    • Corollary: If you keep asking people to give $25, you’ll keep getting $25. If you keep asking people to share/like, you’ll keep getting shares and likes.
    • When something happens once, it has happened once. It doesn’t mean it will happen again. When something happens twice, it will probably happen a third time. When something happens three times, it’s getting to be a habit. We WANT giving to become a habit. Work hard to communicate effectively and often with first-gift donors, and watch your first renewal rate carefully. It’s one of the most important metrics you have.
    • Maybe just as importantly, we should notice when someone has given twice or three times. Notice when they have given the same amount three times in a row. It’s becoming a habit. I see this most often at $100. Once someone has given $100 three times in a row, we become that person’s $100 organization. That person’s $100 habit. Asking for more than $100 better be accompanied by a very good reason.
    • That’s also why fundraising consultants suggest providing a layer of connection and engagement that is limited to just current donors. It works on the same principle as the software provider that gives you limited access for free, and deeper access for a subscription.
    • The most powerful marketing tool we have is what donors say about us to other people. If they say that the XYZ preserve is a wonderful place to walk, and you can bring your dog, then you may get more people walking their dog on the preserve. If they say that they are members of the wonderful land trust that protected the XYZ preserve where they can walk their dog, then they might just plant the giving idea. And doing so validates their own giving also.

And here’s why all of these pieces matter. It’s wonderful when people engage – meaning participate. It’s wonderful when people give, specifically. But these actions are not the end game. We WANT people to give and then give a second and third gift. We want their donations to be related to their deepening engagement (we want them to give more and more over time). We want them to feel like the land trust is their land trust – their asset – and share that fact with their friends. We want people to recruit others as conservation enthusiasts, as engaged and enthusiastic volunteers, and as donors. We want people to feel the legacy of the preserves as their legacy and leave the land trust in their wills.

I think we’re missing a lot of these boats. We provide a LOT of content for free. We design our communications and engagement events to educate everyone about the importance of conservation work. We take the entire burden of marketing the land trust on ourselves. But we don’t ask our communications to help donors talk about conservation and the need for conservation investors. Our communications tend to be “sciency.” Too focused on organizational accomplishments and “education.” And most never deliver the message that we need money at all.

In other words, they don’t give donors the tools they need to talk about the land trust to people they know. Stories that donors can use when talking to their friends. ONE of those stories being why we need money – why giving is important. That donors are an important part of an important organization.

Story-telling consultant Andy Goodman has written that every organization (and every Board director) should be able to tell seven different stories in a compelling way:

• Stories that showcase our organization’s identity and culture
• Stories that demonstrate the Nature of the challenge we are addressing
• The story of how we got started
• Stories that showcase our emblematic successes
• Stories that showcase our values
• Stories that demonstrate how we are striving to improve (grow)
• Stories that show where we are going – our Vision

I will argue that when we are effective in telling these stories in our materials, at our events, and in our outreach work, we are helping donors understand how to tell the stories themselves also. How to make organizational stories into THEIR stories.

When they share their stories once, they’ve shared them once. When they share them a second time, they will probably share them again.

And when they share them a third time …

Cheers, and Have a great week.

-da

PS: Your comments on these posts are welcomed and warmly requested. If you have not posted a comment before, or if you are using a new email address, please know that there may be a delay in seeing your posted comment. That’s my SPAM defense at work. I approve all comments as soon as I am able during the day.

Photo by Siggilinde courtesy Pixabay