“Different People Need to Hear Different Stories”

Seth Godin-marketer extraordinaire of Meatball Sundae, The Dip, and Purple Cow fame-was the featured speaker during a Chronicle of Philanthropy live discussion earlier this week.

I didn’t participate in the live version, but the transcript is online. There you’ll find this exchange:

Question: How do you think emotional marketing by non-profits compares to campaigns that are more focused on performance capabilities and demonstrable impact?

Seth’s answer: Marketing is about storytelling. And the thing is, different people need to hear different stories. Some people respond to a cold hard number. Others want to see the happy kid with braces. The challenge is in telling the right story to the right people in the right way at the right time.

The “different strokes for different folks” comment reminded me of a higher-ed site I recently visited, one that tells the many stories of an annual fund. Annual giving sites often can be dry and a little stale. Not this one.

Start your journey there by visiting Brown University’s homepage. Right now, you’ll find the “Million Dollar Month Participation Challenge” highlighted on the “Giving to Brown” tab.

That leads you into the Brown Annual Fund site, which is full of bells and whistles. Currently those include:

• Participation challenge—they’re seeking 4,000 donors and $1 million in the month before commencement … and they’re almost there.


• Thank-you gifts for donors—this year, a photograph of Carrie Tower.


• A flickr contest—they’ve finished accepting entries and now are judging the 388 photos submitted. One of those will become the next donor thank-you print.


• A game, Brown Grad Libs—fill in the blanks and the site generates your own Brown story. This is the first game I’ve seen on a higher-ed fundraising site.


• Annual fund impact, by the numbers—what difference does a $50 make?


• Annual fund impact, as told by students and faculty.


• Quite a bit of Annual Fund-related news and headlines, along with a handful of special initiatives (giving programs for reunions, parents, etc.) and the requisite details on giving methods, recognition, and whatnot.

Brown also is a good place to observe how “Web 2.0”-type content can be created and integrated into fundraising sites.

Ever since they launched the “Boldly Brown” campaign, they’ve highlighted video and podcasts on the campaign homepage. They do a nice job of presenting campaign outreach and dedication events online (available on the “News” page), and take the time to post photo galleries from those events. Currently the campaign site features an online survey, asking students how they’d like to get involved in “Boldly Brown.” And don’t forget the previously mentioned flickr photo contest for the Annual Fund.

This is the first time I’ve seen podcasts on a planned giving site. Like many other schools, Brown is using syndicated material from Stelter for much of their information, but they’ve done a lot of customizing and incorporated quite a few videos into the standard content. Right now, a video with a 1988 grad explaining why she established a bequest is the lead item on their “What it Means to Give” page.

Posted by Hilery Livengood
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Categories: Content and writing / Fundraising