UA Foundation | © 2010 Tom Ahern1 Making your case ~ T o m A h e r n ~

UA Foundation | © 2010 Tom Ahern 1

Making your case

~ T o m A h e r n ~

IFC 2010 Relationship Workshop | Ahern 2

Give me your elevator speech.

(And, yes, it’s a trap.)

IFC 2010 Relationship Workshop | Ahern 3

Announcing the “Great, University of Arizona,

Elevator Speech Contest.” Best 150-word

speech wins a prize.


Why should “I, the donor” care about...

Your gifts can continue to fund our scholarships; fund postdoctoral fellowships that bring young, innovative researchers to campus; endow chairs and professorships that will attract and retain faculty members who have earned national distinction in their respective fields; and gifts that can be used in a multiplicity of research endeavors by enabling researchers to freely test new hypotheses and conduct pilot studies that serve as catalysts for major funding proposals.


What if none of this stuff happened?

Be a Sponsor of The CenterThe Center of Recruitment and Retention is stressed financially like all businesses are right now. We have sought donations both formally and informally over the past several months and people have been most generous. We have received over 60 donations from teachers and several donations from other sources as well.

Thanks to you for your moral support and your financial support; it tells us that you understand what we do. Your goals and ours are the same – improving mathematics literacy for all students. Those teachers who devote their professional lives doing this work must be saluted for their dedication and we mean to support them in every way we can.

At this time the Center is seeking donations in order to keep the programs going and to continue to serve the mathematics community to the best of our ability. If you are interested in becoming a friend of the Center, please use the link belowto access the donation form. All contributions are much appreciated and are tax deductible. Thank you for supporting the efforts of the Center of Recruitment and Retention.Fred Stevenson, Founder



The other Golden Rule:

“What’s in it for me?”


Keyword search: “America’s math crisis”

"Most Americans are unaware of how much science does for this country and what we stand to lose if we can't keep up," says Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and chair of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

David Baltimore, president of the California Institute of Technology and a Nobel laureate, puts it bluntly: "We can't hope to keep intact our standard of living, our national security, our way of life, if Americans aren't competitive in science. Period.”

"As this century unfolds," multi-billionaire Jim Simons said, "the economic competition from Asia is going to be very intense, and we're going to have to face these issues. I'd like to see us face them before we lose the game."


Insiders suffer from the “curse of knowledge.”

Made to Stick – Chip & Dan Heath


Only staff are insiders.


Insiders Outsiders

Gov’t grants Individual donors

In- and outsiders

Foundations

Meet criteria Win a fightShow promise

Specialists GeneralistsChange agents

Rational EmotionalAspirational

“...when a research subject was encouraged to think of giving money to a charity, parts of the brain lit up that are normally associated with selfish pleasures like eating or sex.”– Nicholas Kristof, New York Times, 2010

12UA Foundation | © 2010 Tom Ahern


You build effective communications backwards from

your target audience.

Elevator Speech

Tip!


You build effective communications backwards from

your target audience.


Insider stuff must be translated ... if you hope

to move outsiders to care or act.


David Laibson, Professor, Harvard University -- Primary Fields of Interest: Macroeconomics, finance, psychology and economics, experimental economics. Research Topics: Savings, consumption, intertemporal choice, neuroeconomics, household finance, bounded rationality.


intertemporal choice? neuroeconomics?

bounded rationality?

whaaaa?


David Laibson, Professor, Harvard University -- David has made it his mission to understand why our best intentions are often inconsistent with our actions. He explores important puzzles such as: Why do we pay $1,000 for one-year gym membership and then never go? Why do we plan to lose weight, but fail to stick to our diet? Why do we set deadlines and break them? Why are exercise, good nutrition and saving things that we always think we will do tomorrow, but not today? In the process, he’s finding ways to enable people to commit themselves to courses of action that best reflect their long-run interests. (author: Dr. Dan Ariely, Duke)


“That dress you’re wearing....”

-- The Georgia Tech nanotechnology story

Elevator Speech

Tip!


“That dress you’re wearing....”

-- The Georgia Tech nanotechnology story


“Donors are staggeringly ignorant of the causes

they support.”

-- Richard Radcliffe, who’s spoken with 16,500+ of these glorious creatures


Just as good…

50,000 words of supporting infobecame

2,500 word case documentbecame

weeks of heated debatebecame

“Academic excellence? I’m for that!”


Schools waste a lot of timedroning on about technical details

that only specialists care about.

It’s boring.Worse, it doesn’t trigger giving.


PrincetonHarvard

Georgia TechU Nebraska at Lincoln

Michigan StateU Maryland

SUNY at BuffaloU of Arizona


Alumni giving rate

61%41%29%23%15%12%9%6%

at peer research institutions

Source: 2009 data, US News & World Report


You have the fish.You have the barrel.

So...what’s wrong with your bullets?

What messages have failed to penetrate

alumni minds?


“Philanthropy and greatness are directly, inextricably linked.”


“With a projected $100 million or more gone from the state budget for education this year, faculty members acknowledged the urgency with which the administration is seeking out new streams of revenue.”

– Arizona Daily Wildcat, 9/9/2009


“Depending on state coffers for the funding

that UA desperately needs is a bad bet.”


Dr. Adrian Sargeant: Why donors stay loyal

They’re aware of consequences

Believing “Someone might be hurt if I don’t give.”


“The once-and-future reputation of the school you graduated from rests, to a significant degree, on

your willingness to give and give again. Because if alumni won’t give, why should anyone else?”


Elevator Speech

Tip!

“The once-and-future reputation of the school you graduated from rests, to a significant degree, on

your willingness to give and give again. Because if alumni won’t give, why should anyone else?”



Why us?Why now?Why you?

The 3 big questions your case for support has to answer


Says Jerry Weissman, Presenting to Win,

a good case will move...

uninformed > understanddubious > believeresistant > act


Why us?What are we doing that’s so

uniquely wonderful, surprising, great?

What’s the promise?


38Making Your Case | Tom Ahern | www.aherncomm.com

39IFC 2010 Master Class | Joyaux/Ahern

You’re not selling your pedagogy.



When she entered our 3rd grade, she couldn’t spell “cat.”

At the end of the year, she could spell “Tchaikovsky.”

You’re selling your promise (with a side order of proof, if you

have it). You are a means to an end.


A bigger endowment means discoveries come faster.

A bigger endowment means more improvements, better treatments, faster healing, and hope where there wasn't hope before.

A bigger endowment means we will more quickly penetrate the genetic and functional mysteries inside today's incurable diseases and find relief.


Promises

You’re also selling impact. How big a splash can a donor

make, through you?


• A brick and a flag … OR (2)

• “With that $1,000, we can train a person to treat 80% of the illnesses in an entire village for a year.” (123)

Source: Nick Fellers, The Suddes Group



Why now?What’s the big hurry? What

changed? Why is this crucial now?

Making Your Case | Tom Ahern | www.aherncomm.com 47

This is Yale Tomorrow

A message from Yale President, Richard C. Levin

I invite you to participate in Yale Tomorrow, a five-year, $3 billion campaign to build the future of our University. I seek your support to ensure that the accomplishment of recent years is not remembered merely as a bright moment in Yale’s long history, but rather as the foundation for a Yale of permanently greater breadth and strength, a Yale with the capacity to contribute – by means of its scholarship and its graduates – not only to the nation but also to the world.

This is Yale Tomorrow

A message from Yale President, Richard C. Levin

I invite you to participate in Yale Tomorrow, a five-year, $3 billion campaign to build the future of our University. I seek your support to ensure that the accomplishment of recent years is not remembered merely as a bright moment in Yale’s long history, but rather as the foundation for a Yale of permanently greater breadth and strength, a Yale with the capacity to contribute – by means of its scholarship and its graduates – not only to the nation but also to the world.

emotional trigger (fear,

loss)

promises


Your case talks about where you’re headed.


You’re at A.


Blah, blah, blah, problem, blah, blah, blah, evil…

But it doesn’t have to be that way.


What’s your B?Elevator Speech

Tip!


What’s your B?


A

B

B

Yale College is thriving, perhaps as never before.

Recognizing that excellence is no excuse for complacency…

…recommended substantial improvements in the curriculum…

Promise: “science-rich”

Promise: arts expansion

Promise: building multinational graduates

Promise: bringing a Yale education within reach of anyone

good enough to be admitted

Promise: perpetual glory. These are mostly named endowments.


Why you?“You” is the donor. Why are donors

critical to your vision? Have you made them the heroes? What are

your emotional triggers?


“Why in the world would I invest my hard-earned money in your project or mission?”

Accomplishments for 2009-2010 [CRR]

• Workshop opportunities were offered to elementary school teachers

• Mathematics Teacher Appreciation Day Conference, 6th Annual~ attended by 350 teachers, an increase of 7% from the previous year~ participants represented 17 school districts and 108 schools

• Tutoring - 12 UA students completed a semester of training and provided 575hours tutoring in ten local middle and high schoolsInduction Program - 16 new teachers representing seven school districtsparticipated

• Advanced Placement Calculus Practice Test Session attended by 161 studentsand 14 teachers, a 4.5% increase in student participation and a 40% increase inteacher participation

• Partnerships with local school districts increased from eight to nine, with theinclusion of Sahuarita Unified School District, the first district outside theurban area



Except these aren’t accomplishments, not to outsiders. They’re mere

activities. And they prove nothing.

13 strongest words in English

• Discovery

• Results

• Proven

• New

• Safety

• You

• Health

• Early

• Money

• Save

• Guarantee

• Love

• Free

Source: Jerry Huntsinger



“Safety? Proven? Discovery? Results?”

It’s not just the word. It’s the concept behind the word that’s

doing the tugging.






(Direct mail industry trade secret!)Seven emotional triggers causepeople to respond to direct mail:

-- Anger-- Exclusivity-- Fear-- Flattery-- Greed -- Guilt -- Salvation


Curiosity builderExclusivity trigger

Flattery trigger


Make your donor the real

hero of the story…

And shift the burden for achieving success onto their shoulders



A case is not about you and your need for cash.


A case is about offering the prospect a way to feel good.

IFC 2010 Master Class | Joyaux/Ahern 69

What PROBLEM are …

your donors… the SOLUTION to?


This has 2 B’s: the “fork in the road” story.


Jerry Panas tip.

Make it bigger than you.

Elevator Speech

Tip!


Jerry Panas tip.

Make it bigger than you.



“…the key motivator for giving is not need, but

opportunity.”


Opportunity to honor a loved one, for instance...


Mostly, the opportunity to feel like they’ve made a

difference.

How do you start a miracle growing?You plant a gift in your will. "Medical miracles" in children's health care ... ... those breathtaking advances that, when you first hear of them, seem almost impossible to believe ... ... can often be traced back to just two things: 1. an idea in the right mind; and ... 2. enough philanthropic investment to transform that wonderful idea into a healing reality.



- Because my peer asked me to- Because I’ll feel proud I’ve helped- Because I’ll feel guilty if I don’t- Because I feel it’s my responsibility- Because I love what you stand for- Because I’m part of the family- Because I’ll relieve suffering- Because I’ll change a life

Cialdini’s Principles of Persuasion

• Reciprocation: We feel obligated to return favors performed for us.

• Authority: We look to experts to show us the way.

• Commitment/consistency: We want to act consistently with our commitments and values.

Source: Influence: Science and Practice, by Robert Cialdini


Cialdini’s Principles of Persuasion

• Scarcity: The less available the resource, the more we want it.

• Likability: The more we like people, the more we want to say yes to them.

• Social proof: We look to what others do to guide our behavior.

Source: Influence: Science and Practice, by Robert Cialdini



Dr. Cialdini’s “scarcity” principle at work


“Your donor communications, bless their hearts: Are they any good?”

DIY Audit


“Do I insist that thedonor is our dearly

beloved superhero?”






“Is this all I am to you?”


Beginning of mail

End of mail

Elapsed time:

1-3 seconds


Sore throat? My tonsils had filled with cancer.

But thanks in part to donors like you,Sharp cancer care had the cure.


Dear Tom,

My name's Diane York.

I'm a mother, a wife, a career fashion designer ... and, thanks to the magnificent care I received at Sharp, I am also now a cancer survivor.

If you are, or have been, a donor to Sharp, I want to take this special opportunity to thank you personally for your contribution to my recovery.

ETC....

Donor love




The other Golden Rule:

“What’s in it for me?”

What donors want

• They want to change the world a bit (or big donors, a lot)

• They want to be part of something special, pursuing a mission they personally care about

• They want to be appreciated for their participation (NOT just acknowledged)

• They like feeling part of the team (NOT just a fan)


Change lives.Relieve pain.

Right a wrong.End injustice.

Add to the world.Give back for a good life.

UA Foundation | © 2010 Tom Ahern93

(Chicago Tribune, 6/15/2007) That good feeling you get by writing a check to your favorite charity could be your brain patting itself on the back.

Reporting in Friday's issue of the journal Science, a team of economists and psychologists at the University of Oregon have found that...

donating money to charity activates regions of the brain associated with pleasure.


St. Jude’s welcome package

• #10 envelope: THANKS! Your St. Jude welcome materials are enclosed.

• Personalized, one-sided letter (for $10 gift) gushes, “I’ve just received the marvelous news – you’re the newest member of the St. Jude family.” Marlo Thomas

• P.S.: “I know there are many worthy charities that ask for your help. Please know how honored we are that you’ve chosen to support the work of St. Jude.”

• Inserts: thank you from patient, thank you from parent, small notepad, reply slip with a gentle ask for “extra gift”



Donor-NEGLIGENT:

“We did this. We did that. We were amazing. Oh, by the way, thanks.”



Donor-CENTRIC:

“With your help, all these amazing things

happened. And without your help, they won’t.”



$4,470 in gifts


$49,600 in gifts102UA Foundation | © 2010 Tom Ahern

$4,470 in gifts


$49,600 in gifts


A poster child has a purpose.


Source: Dr. Dan Ariely, Duke U., 2010

Identifiable life Statistical lives Identifiable life with stats


“Does my stuff getan A+ on the‘you’ test?”

Corporate communications are about how great the organization

is. Favorite pronoun:

weUA Foundation | © 2010 Tom Ahern 107


Fundraising communications have to be about how great the

donor is. Favorite pronoun:

youUA Foundation | © 2010 Tom Ahern 109


Dear <Salutation>,

As the year draws to a close, I wanted to share with you just what a difference your decision to <para1Support/continue> Amnesty International Australia as <Para1 donor type> has made to many people around the world.

I feel very fortunate because in my travels I am able to meet the people that you have helped, such as José Gallardo, who I met at our last International Council Meeting in Mexico. José was a former general in the Mexican army, who was arrested and imprisoned simply for complying with the constitution of his country.

Source: Sean Triner, Pareto


[corporate communications]

I feel very fortunate because in my travels I am able to meet the people that Amnesty has helped...

[fundraising communications]

I feel very fortunate because in my travels I am able to meet the people that you have helped...


Fails the “you test.” Where’s the donor? The donor’s not in the picture. Where’s the fun in that?


Nicely passes the “you test.” Also good: makes it easy for the donor to visualize the impact of a gift.


Your

you will




YOUR GIFTS


SUPPORT US: Become a volunteer, become a member, give a donation, buy something in the store

A call to action, yes.But not a donor-centric call to action.

SUPPORT US: Become a volunteer, become a member, give a donation, buy something in the store.


NO CURE WITHOUT YOU: Become a volunteer, become a member, give a donation, buy

something in the store.






“Do I surprise my readers … or bore

them?”


This is NOT new



Neuroscience says…

“Coming across new information triggers a chemical reaction that makes us feel good, which in turns causes us to seek out even more of it.”

Source: Wall Street Journal article by Lee Gomes, on USC neuroscientist, Dr. Irving Biederman; published March 12, 2008

New125UA Foundation | © 2010 Tom Ahern

Anything

Will Grab My Attention(including the word “new”)





“Do I make a promise?

(Because donors buy promises.)



“Do I talk about impact?”

(Because donors buy impact.)



“Do I tell people how we are unique?”


“We take citizens most likely not to succeed, and we help

them to succeed.”

Director, Community College of RI


“Do I mistake mere activities for real

accomplishments?”

© 2010 Tom Ahern 136

Accomplishments


“Do I take my donor on a journey?”


Essence of storytelling:

Something happens


Because they’re learning

Are you taking them on a journey?


Source: Friends of the Children







Doesn’t take the reader on a journey. These could be the names of store clerks. Where did you get your degrees?



“Can readers easily skim my stuff?”

Vögele’s eye motion study


Corollary: info transfers best at the “browser level,” not in the body of an article

How you assume people see your newsletter


How people actually see your newsletter



What do “readers” really see• Artwork: 80 percent

• Photos: 75 percent

• Headlines: 56 percent

• Briefs: 31 percent

• Captions: 29 percent

• Text: 25 percent*

*This number is abnormally high, according to Poynter Institute researchers. They tested prototypes rather than actual publications. Prototypes invariably produce higher, more positive numbers than real publications. Source: Ann Wylie


Almost everyone

looks at this

About a third read

this

Almost no one reads much of

this


“Are my headlines really headlines?”


“A good headline [has] enticing words, good action verbs, the best possible summary of what the content is about, and, if possible, a surprise or ‘hook’ that pulls us in.”

Dr. Mario R. Garcia, Redesigning Print for the Web

This is not a headline. It’s simply big type.



This is not a headline. It doesn’t tell me what the story is about.


Not a headline

Not a headline


Would Marijuana Be OK by Prescription If You Didn’t Get High? Painkillers Without Pleasure

[in this case, the Wall Street Journal used 14 words to tell the tale -- short-winded for the Journal, which averages more like 25-30 words for its headline/deck combos]

Headline

Deck (sub-headline)


Before

After


“…after seeing your presentation, we put into place many of the fundamentals you advocate for a good donor newsletter. It’s working! …we’ve more than doubled our gifts, and they keep coming. The average gift size [from the newsletter] is almost twice as much as our appeal’s average gift.”

-- Clovis Thorn, Director of Development, Drug Policy Alliance; September 22, 2005

Be a Sponsor of The Center

The Center of Recruitment and Retention is stressed financially like all businesses are right now. [etc.]

A crisis for our kids: Arizona’s best math teachers are fleeing their classroomsYour gift says, “We can turn that crisis around!”

The Center of Recruitment and Retention is stressed financially like all businesses are right now. [etc.]



“Do I promote trust?”


Bottom of every email


Inside every newsletter


“Fundraising and efficiency facts…”From the United Negro College Fund website

-- UNCF maintains a low cost ratio of only 17.6 percent of total revenues – 7.8 percent for administrative costs and 9.8 percent for fundraising.

-- Both The Non-Profit Times and The Chronicle of Philanthropy rank UNCF among the top 10 charitable educational organizations in the country.

-- Approximately 92 percent of students attending UNCF member institutions require financial assistance.

-- 59 percent of students attending UNCF member institutions are from families with a gross income of less than $35,000 and roughly half of UNCF students are from single parent households.


Note the testimonial proof

Each of these photo-sets is a story. Yes, a picture is worth 1,000 words.


“Do I vow to despise jargon and all its evil

works?”


Write like you’re writing to your mum.

-- Richard Radcliffe



“Do I invite my donors to a fight?”


“Giving is not about a calculation of what you are buying,” Yale

economics professor, Dean Karlan, proved. “It is about

participating in a fight.”

The New York Times | March 9, 2008






They share your beliefs



Myfreehow-toe-newsletter…www.aherncomm.com

UA Foundation | © 2010 Tom Ahern1 Making your case ~ T o m A h e r n ~

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