Psychology of Fundraising: New Donors

In this episode of 7-Figure Fundraising, Trevor Bragdon kicks off a new podcast series focusing on the psychology of fundraising with Tarren Bragdon, co-founder of 7-Figure Fundraiser and founder and CEO of the Foundation for Government Accountability. In this episode, they dive deep into fundraising psychology, what makes finding new donors difficult, and strategies to overcome these challenges.

To reach new donors, you want to reduce their friction to say yes and learn more. One strategy working well right now is requesting a 10-minute introduction call with no ask for money. In this call, you want to build trust with the donor by telling the story of why you started the nonprofit or why you are passionate about the work. You also want to explain your theory of change. The theory of change is how specifically you make change through your organization. Ideally, if both of these parts flow as stories, you get the donor interested, and they will want to learn more. At the end of the call, ask to schedule a Zoom call or in-person meeting to layout out more detail with your pitch.

Tarren and Trevor also discuss the differences between a renewal donor pitch and a prospect pitch for new donors. With a prospect pitch, you want to explain the nonprofit's origin story, who you help, how you do the work and what makes you unique, and then lay out your big vision for the future. The key is to keep the explanations at a high level and then allow the prospect to ask questions about what parts they find intriguing.

Lastly, the show ends with some details on what you should expect your success rates to be and some back-of-the-envelope math to estimate how many leads you'll need to get a new donor.

Elevator Close for New Donors Video: https://youtu.be/7FmLc6tL1hw

How to Build a Donor Pitch Video: https://youtu.be/oP7q_wCBGcc