7 Emotional Triggers to Get Donors to Act

Statistics and logic in your fundraising might cause your donors to think, but emotion compels them to act. Neuroscience tells us so.

Decision-making begins in the emotional centers of the brain. So always aim for the heart to influence donor behavior. Use these emotional triggers in copy, design, and images throughout your fundraising.

Here are 7 emotional triggers that you should use in your fundraising appeals to get donors to act:

• Fear
  Paint a picture about the fear of losing something precious, fear of something bad happening, even the fear of losing one’s self-regard by ignoring a problem. Handle carefully, though — it can backfire on you.
• Anger
  Find the outrage in your cause, the wrong to be righted. Then work it. Show how it offends our sense of morality and fair play.
• Exclusivity
  Think in terms of one donor, not a mass list. Show your donor she’s the most important person in the world — and a key part of a select group that cares about your cause.
• Altruism
  Concern for others, even strangers, is hard-wired into our culture. Play on this natural impulse. It’s one reason stories about people needing help work so well in fundraising.
• Guilt
  Say your cause is hunger. Subtly reminding your donor that she enjoys three good meals a day while others go without injects motivating guilt.
• Praise
  Tell your donor how wonderful she is for caring and supporting your cause. Lay it on thick. It works.
• Salvation
  Show your donors the promised land, the realized dream, the world without cancer, the world without hunger or poverty. People want the ideal. Even if our rational minds tell us it isn’t possible, we want it anyway.

Be sure to keep these in mind when you’re working on your next fundraising appeal. And, if you’ve come across other triggers you think are noteworthy, please comment below and tell us about them!