Fundraising Insights
Use Testimonies!
The vast majority of ministries have no apparatus at all for collecting success stories – or “testimonies” – because they do not understand the crucial importance of sharing them with donors.
Some ministry marketers actually resist the use of testimonies. Maybe they’ve been turned off by the melodramatic weepers on late-night charity infomercials. But rejecting the use of testimonies on this basis throws out the proverbial baby with the bath water.
The true story of an individual makes a powerful visceral connection between the ministry and the donor. Even if your ministry masks the identity of the individual to protect his or her privacy, the sharing of that story gives you a certain credibility that no volume of statistics or celebrity endorsements can duplicate.