How do you make donors feel?

Seth's most important rule:

By a factor of three, what you do is not nearly as important as how it makes people feel.

Write this on the inside of your eyelids, so you don't forget it.

Because it forces you to ask which of those two things do you spend your time and effort on? (Seth asks more sharply: "Why do you spend almost all your time on the wrong thing?" Unfortunately, his assumption is almost certainly correct.)

It's a tough question for nonprofits. Because we have two faces: The face that does our mission, and the face that works to motivate others to join us. The working assumption nearly everywhere is that success in the mission area automatically leads to success in fundraising.

It doesn't.

I'd hate to see a list of the incredibly effective nonprofits that no longer exist because they couldn't raise the funds they needed to keep going. Or the even longer list of great nonprofits that are hobbled by lack of funds -- because they can't figure out how to make donors feel good.

Think about it: Do you know how your work makes people feel?

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