Are you doing backward-brained fundraising?

As you know, your brain has two hemispheres, each with different strengths: The right side is emotional, qualitative, connective. The left side is rational, quantitative, sequential. Success at almost anything means integrating both sides -- being right-brained when that's called for and left-brained when that's needed.

I've worked with many nonprofits that approach fundraising with very integrated brains. Unfortunately, they have the hemispheres flipped.

Here's how it goes:

Right brain goes into high gear:

• Let's talk about Topic Y, not Topic X, because we like Topic Y much more than X. Emotional decision. What you like may not be what others like. Look at the facts about your topics.
  
• Let's be professional, not urgent -- that really embarrasses us. Emotional. How your communications make you feel is not important. If you want to get people's attention and motivate giving, you should be as urgent as possible -- as long as you're telling the truth.
  
• Don't write to anyone who's given more than $100 -- they won't respond. Emotional again. Look at the facts and find out whether that's true or not. (I can almost guarantee you it isn't.)
  
• Exclude everyone who's given in the last six months. They'll just be annoyed if we ask them again. Emotional. The facts may -- in this case, almost certainly will -- tell you otherwise.
  

Then comes time for messaging. The left brain leaps into action:

• There are five reasons people should give right now. Let's focus on them. People don't give to reasons. They give when their heart is touched. While reasons may be valid supporting material, you need to lead with emotional material.
  
• Avoid those schmaltzy emotional stories and word-pictures -- totally unconvincing. Stick to numbers and facts. People don't know things until they can "see" them. That's why you need to use plenty of visualization. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a word-picture is worth 2,000 numbers.
  
• Keep it short and to the point. State the case and stop wasting time. If people were computers, this would be the right way to go. We aren't, and it isn't.
  

If you see your organization in this exercise, work to turn those hemispheres around. Put your left brain on high alert when you're planning and strategizing. Make sure your decisions are rational and fact-based. Then when you're creating your message, send lefty away and activate your right brain. Find the emotional core of your message and build around that.

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