Before attempting to raise funds, it is important to be very clear about the elements of the Message Triangle. Confusion or disagreement about any of these three areas can lead to ineffective fundraising or worse, fundraising that erodes donor loyalty.

THE THREE SIDES OF THE TRIANGLE

Mission:
Why you exist. This is the core issue, the central reason your organization exists.

Competencies/Benefits:
What you do. Your organization’s attributes or competencies. These are the concrete things your organization does that are meritorious and worthy of support.

Personality/Strengths:
Who you are. Think of this list as the way donors would describe your organization if it were a person. In this area are the things that are fundamental to the personality of the organization the attributes that seem hard-wired into the organizational DNA. This side of the triangle is very important because of the emotional component it contains.

For best results there needs to be internal agreement on these three important components. Then there needs to be agreement with your fundraising counsel.

THE ROLE OF EMOTION IN FORGING DONOR LOYALTY

One big mistake made by many organizations is forgetting the importance of the emotional component when attempting to appeal to donors. Unfortunately, most organizations keep trying to appeal to the rational mind alone, instead of to reason and emotion together. Rationality assumes that behavior is determined exclusively by conscious awareness, reason, and the ability to calculate something’s worth. The most recent discoveries in cognitive neuroscience sharply contradict this notion.

Research shows that human behavior is influenced by the combination of reason and emotion, and that reason only functions well when it is supported by the presence of an adequate emotional state. So, while focusing on conscious awareness and reason may work to spark interest in a cause or an organization, it fails to produce the emotions required for true engagement.

Emotions are the mechanisms that set people’s highest-level goals, including what causes they decide to support. While donors often forget factual information, they almost always remember their emotions, both good and bad. And when it comes to deciding whether to donate again to a certain cause, negative emotions are often remembered more vividly than the positive.

This means that the process of deciding whether or not to stay on board also depends on the emotions experienced while donating and supporting a cause. So, apart from performing its intrinsic functions, a “cause brand” carries profound emotional connotations for donors. At the beginning, middle, and end of every transaction, emotional engagement is at its heart.

Just as there are three kinds of customer loyalty, there are also three kinds of donor loyalty:
  1. Forced Loyalty, which is imposed by a monopoly and lasts only as long as the monopoly does. When another organization emerges to compete, donors have a choice, and will defect unless they have connected with you on a deeper level.
  2. Bought Loyalty, which is directed at a captive audience and fueled by premiums or up-front freemiums. This type of donor loyalty lasts only as long as the organization is willing to pay the price. Loyalty that is bought does not run deep, either.
  3. Emotional Loyalty, which can go on indefinitely. The good news is that this type of donor loyalty is a renewable resource that is virtually inexhaustible if wisely cultivated. However, unless you focus on emotional engagement, you will not be able to persuade donors to stick with you for the long term.

For all these reasons, it is important for organizations that care about donor loyalty to pay attention to all three sides of the Message Triangle, and to make sure that all three sides reinforce each other.

Source: Merkle Orange Papers
http://www.merkledomain.com/site/PageServer?pagename=orange_messaging
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