I recently picked up Tom Ahern’s new book, Seeing through a Donor’s Eyes, and highly recommend it to all in fundraising. Subtitle: How to Make a Persuasive CASE for Everything from your Annual Drive to your Planned Giving Program to your Capital Campaign. Yep, there’s good stuff for all such endeavors.
One snippet I really like, just for the phrasing, on the supposed “battle for dominance” between emotion and reasoning, Tom’s bite re fundraising appeals:
“The well-informed thinking now knows that emotions initiate the decision, and the reasoning area of your brain struggles to keep up with a ‘Yes, dear.”
Well said.