Building Your Campaign

When raising money for yourself or a loved one, we all must acknowledge a truth that is both critical to success and, at the same time, impolite: your appeal may not be as important to some readers as other things in their lives. In fact, depending on their distance from you and your circumstances, they may even be deeply skeptical about whether your situation is real. 

I would even take that a step further. Giving to you is likely to be in direct competition with an individual’s own priorities. People are getting hit up virtually every day from increasingly sophisticated advertisers selling their goods, national charities, local charities, houses of worship vying for financial support, family financial needs like a new roof or tuition for their kids, and even their own hobbies and leisure. News reports and social media spread awareness of scams, on top of which people must work within with their own belief systems, and often those of a partner, about the role of giving in their lives.

Your goal is to convince a skeptical audience to support your cause out of all the other causes they could support. To do that, as awkward as it feels, you need to step out of your own skin and look at the world from their perspective.

Consider this: Have you ever given money/food/etc. to a homeless person? I think most people have, even if it has been dropping a few coins into the hat of a guy playing the sax in the subway. But for virtually all of those people, they did not give every time they were asked.

Why not? 

What was it about the people you chose to give to that was different from the folks you decided not to support? 

When I ask this question in my graduate marketing classes, the students often turn immediately to rationalizations. Maybe they were in a hurry. Maybe they didn’t have any cash, and so making a donation was inconvenient. Maybe they thought that the person they didn’t donate to might use the money for something of which they would not approve, like alcohol or drugs. 

When you peel all of this back, the common denominator is that their motivation just wasn’t high enough. 

When you change the question to: “If you found a dear friend or family member living on the street, would you just walk by?”, The answer shifts immediately to “Of course not.” Would the fact that you had no cash with you at that moment stop you from helping them? Not at all. How low would you feel if your best friend was living on the street and you walked right by because you had an appointment somewhere? 

It’s hard to think a person may see your genuine plea for help and think it’s a scam, but it happens. It’s even harder to believe that they may just turn away because they don’t care enough, but they can and do. Perhaps the only thing harder to swallow than indifference is that there is yet another pool of people who pass judgment on such appeals as simply being unworthy of their support because the author seems to be lazy, playing a victim, or in such dire straits that their support wouldn’t make a difference anyway. 

No one with a soul is going to say to your face, “I’m pretty sure you’re going to die anyway, so I’m going to save my money for a nice vacation.” But, even when they don’t expressly say that the feeling of futility can shape their decision – if you let it. 

While I certainly intend no offense, this guide is not about being polite. 

My belief is that when you are fighting for your future, real talk and a good plan are the best prescription. 

Let's talk about how to make all of that work right now! 

What the section above means in practical terms is that to raise a good sum of money – at least outside of your immediate circle of family and friends – you have to get people to first care about your situation. Second, get them past any doubts or skepticism about your appeal. And third, make them believe that their contribution will make a difference.

If you can do that, you will be in a great position to succeed. But to do it, you have to think about your appeal from that skeptical or disinterested place. Plan to deliberately knock down every objection you can foresee, while also involving the reader in your story. 

How do we do that? There are three steps: Building the value of the person, building a story around that value, and building a visual language for your posts that strike the right emotional chord with your audience.  

The first step is that we need to build the value of the person. Remember, we are NOT talking to people who already love you. We need to tell them why your life matters. 

Here are some questions to consider as you brainstorm: 

What has the patient done in their life that is notable or would generally be perceived as good? 

Did they volunteer? 

Are they an excellent student? 

Perhaps they are an artist, athlete, or have some special skill that would be valued by society. 

Perhaps their work positively contributes to society.

Can you think of a time that they helped someone else with no expectation of something in return? 

What are they passionate about? (Note: This is not about things they like doing like golfing or scrapbooking, it’s about things that have some broader meaning to society) 

These questions are designed to get you thinking about why their life would matter to a stranger. Why would the world be worse off without you, or your loved one? 

These answers do not need to be grand gestures, especially if the patient is very young. 

Small things can be very meaningful. 

Examples:

“Even though she is only six, Sally is the best big sister. Ever since Peggy was born Sally has been right there, holding her when she cries, making sure her bottles are just the right temperature, and sneaking into her room at night just to make sure Peggy is safe.” 

This little block of text says that Sally’s value to the world is that she is nurturing. She takes care of people, and the world needs more people like that. Both the world and her little sister would be worse off without her. 

“Bob has always been an amazing teacher. The way Bob loves history makes it almost impossible to not love it with him. He would always say that his best days were when students asked to borrow a book he was talking about in class to do extra reading just because they were interested. Between his classes and the extra study sessions where he helps kids who are struggling, we didn’t always see him a lot. Still, we knew that he was doing important work that made a real difference in their lives.”

Again, nothing super extraordinary here. A few extra details show that Bob is not just a teacher, but a great one who improves the lives of the people he meets. The implication in this simple paragraph is that without him, many kids would be worse off. So his value far exceeds the role that he plays in his family. 

Think about how you (or your loved one) have touched the world, in ways big and small. Write some of them down before moving on. 

First Person or Third Person? 

Whether the appeal should be written from the patient’s perspective, or that of a family member, is a source of some discussion. There are good arguments on both sides, but I personally favor the third person for a couple of reasons. 

First, it’s just weird for a lot of people to talk about themselves, especially when it’s all about what a good person they are. There’s a fine line between advocating for yourself and seeming boastful, and that line is not in the same place for every reader. 

Second, some schools of thought suggest that these themes may resonate better and be more credible coming from someone talking about the patient. At the most basic level, doing the campaign in the name of a friend or family member has the effect of another person vouching for the patient.

Don’t get me wrong, a first-person appeal can be powerful. If you are most comfortable writing it that way, do it. But then give it to a few people to read and comment on before you post it. Those people should be BOTH close friends and family, as well as a couple of acquaintances who have very little vested interest in your life. You could literally walk down the street a few doors to a house you don’t know and ask a total stranger to read it and comment. 

Tell them that your life is on the line, and you want their most candid, absolutely unrestrained feedback. If anything reads wrong, or gives them pause in the least, make some adjustments. 

Whichever way you decide to go, make sure that your test readers feel fully comfortable telling you that it sucks. Better you find out early and be able to make adjustments. . 

Alternative Path to Purchase

An “alternative path to purchase” is sales slang for getting money by a different means, and it is a powerful tool in the context of a fundraiser. 

Let me quickly apologize in advance if any of this is offensive or off-putting. I don’t intend for it to be. Still, with this topic, we’re getting into the nitty-gritty of unconscious bias in consumer decision making, and it’s not exactly “polite.” Again, I want to give you every tool I can to save your life, even if it doesn’t make you feel great, and this one can be much too effective for me to even consider leaving it out. 

The basic idea is that some people will not want to donate for myriad personal reasons, so you offer them something in return for their donation. That offer changes their mental calculus and allows them to justify making a donation. 

Before I get into examples, let me share just a few of the reasons that people may decline to donate: 

·  They may worry that your campaign is a scam. 

·  They may feel that people who ask for money should have planned better, so they didn’t end up in this situation. 

·  They may worry that your claims are exaggerated, or that your situation is not that serious. 

·  They may have had a bad experience donating to a similar campaign before, or worry that donating now will subject them to endless requests from other people. 

·  They may also just not feel connected enough to you as a person to want to part with some of their financial security, of which they may not have a lot to begin with. 

·  Some people don’t like victims. Some people are just turned off by issues of disease and death. Still, others just aren’t sure and then get distracted before they can make up their mind. 

Please bear in mind that these perspectives usually have little or nothing to do with you personally. They are often not a conscious choice, but rather stem from the life experience of the reader. 

Without going into too much detail about the science of decision making, many of the decisions we make are made emotionally and then justified after the fact with some rationalization.

Getting something in return for their money creates a powerful rationalization that allows people to donate even when they have very serious reservations. 

In this context, it is not a donation at all, but a transaction. If the proceeds of the transaction go to support a good cause, so much the better. But, if those proceeds go to support an unworthy cause, well, then at least they will have gotten something for their money, and that’s all they really need to care about. 

A quick example is to imagine that you need to clean out a garage, and you hire a guy with a truck to haul away your trash. He loads the truck, and you happily give him the agreed-upon price for taking it away. If he then gambles that money away or spends it on drugs, that’s his choice. You don’t have to worry about having made a bad decision as long as your end of the deal is ok. The same basic principle applies here. 

What kinds of things can you offer? Just about anything. The ‘what’ is less important than the fact that something is offered. 

In my sister’s campaign is was hand-made signs. She is artistic, and she made lovely signs for home decor, birthday boards, etc. But, in your case, it could also be tutoring, dog walking, tax preparation, notary services, meal planning, photo editing/collage making, or just about anything else that you could likely do during treatment. 

Another option, if you don’t feel like you have the right set of skills, would be to enlist family or close friends to help you deliver the service. Maybe you’re not super talented at scrapbooking, but a parent is. Perhaps they could help you produce the service, and you’ll pick up a fun skill along the way. 

In my experience, people are VERY generous with how long it takes to deliver the service. They know you have a lot going on. 

There are three other huge benefits from offering an alternative path to purchase:

·  The mere fact that you would make the offer tells people that you are ‘all in’ to do whatever you can to beat this thing. That alone is a powerful signal that your campaign is credible and that their money will go to a good cause. 

·  If we’re being honest, most folks are going to feel a little badly about making a cancer patient work to save their life. This basic fact should encourage more donation behavior than you may have gotten otherwise.

·  More people may take an ‘all of the above’ approach, and both donate and place an order. This will get you to your goal even faster and show progress to potential donors, which will help encourage them to donate too. 

Offering an alternative path to purchase is not necessary, but boy it can sure help.

In my sister’s first campaign, she got more than a hundred sign orders in about a week. It was crazy, and then she set to work, making them over the next several months during which people happily waited. 

Consider what kind of product or service would feed your soul, and you can significantly expand your ability to raise the money you need quickly. 

Details Create Credibility

Too many campaigns are short on details, which can make them feel generic at best or lacking in credibility at worst. 

Good campaigns offer enough details that they feel factual, which makes them more compelling. It’s even better when those details form an anecdote that is worth sharing. 

Consider the sentence:

“Keisha’s doctors have been working hard to help her apply for clinical trials all over the country, and one finally said yes!” 

It’s a fine sentence that could easily be used in a campaign, but we can really punch it up with a few details. 

“Keisha’s medical team at John’s Hopkins has seven different doctors who have helped her apply to more than thirty different trials. Lucky number thirty-two said yes, and we couldn’t be more grateful for their help.” 

This re-write gives you much more specific information. 

“Wow, seven doctors are caring for her. That’s a lot, and sure sounds like it could be expensive!” 

“Wow, that poor girl had to apply to more than thirty trials! Good for her persisting through all that rejection to get to a yes!”

“Hey, did you hear that Keisha got rejected from thirty-something trials, and she finally got a yes?!” 

Do you see how those details make the case just a little stronger and more believable? 

Use your judgment here. But minimally giving the name of a hospital where she is being treated, especially if it is a well-known local hospital, gives the appeal more authenticity. It introduces facts that could be verified – not that most people are likely to do that.

How Long Should It Be? 

Great campaigns are built like a great crab cake, mostly meat and just enough filler to bind it all together. Every sentence should be purposeful and add something specific to your story. If you don’t know what a sentence adds, cut it out. 

That said, there is no one right answer for length, but 600-800 words is probably a good guideline. That’s about 1-1.5 single-spaced pages of copy. 

Can you go longer? Sure, if you have enough interesting stuff to say, but the key word there is interesting. Too long or too boring and you will lose the reader. Too short and you won’t have put in enough details to make the campaign feel credible. 

A Word On Video 

Video has become an increasingly popular medium for communication. So, the question naturally arises whether video should be used in a campaign like this and, if so, how to do it best.

Honestly, at this moment in time, I am not a fan of video for this kind of campaign for most people. Before going any further, let me say that I think video absolutely CAN work like gangbusters. 

Video can communicate emotion, engage viewers, and present a unique and compelling set of options for laying out your campaign. If you have the time, resources, and skills (or help) to plan, shoot, and produce a video really well, do it! I am always going to advocate for the best, most authentic way for you to tell your story. 

Much thought must be given to exactly how and where the video is shot. Who is speaking, what music (if any) is used, what is the message, and how is that message delivered? If you can really nail those elements in a way that is relevant to your target viewers, fantastic. 

That said, most folks do not have the time, resources, and skills to produce a high-quality video that really reinforces the story of their campaign. At best, they may produce something that does not add much value or may distract viewers from the carefully crafted words of the post. At worst, the video can introduce questions or doubts that didn’t exist before. My philosophy is that it’s best to not do it unless you can do it *really* well.