It Must Benefit the Donor

Donors give to what they want to give to. It may not be what you want.

It’s easier to sell a program if you are benefit-oriented. That should be your entire focus.  Buck Rodgers (yes, that’s his real name), the marketing guru of IBM, said: “At IBM, we don’t sell products.  We sell solutions.”

Few people are willing to support programs they’re not interested in— no matter how altruistic they might be. Not if there isn’t some inherent benefit and appeal for them.

When you think about it, even the highest level of altruism is selfish to a great extent. It provides heart, spirit, and joy to the donor. It gives them the satisfaction of knowing they have given to a great cause— and helped change lives and save lives.

You help the men and women you call on to understand that it is impossible to take with them what they don’t give away.  Andrew Carnegie said that if a man dies rich, he has died in disgrace.