Your average donor couldn’t care less about your theory of change.

There, I said it!

Save the ten-page proposal for foundation chairs and major gift prospects. Those donor prospects want to be dazzled—they want to see the how of what you’re doing.

But your $10 monthly giver or $100-check-in-the-mail donor? They want to be dazzled in a different way.

I’m talking about drama. I’m talking about emotion. And you'd better believe I’m talking about direct mail.

Direct mail is the number-one opportunity you get to tell a large group about what you do—and it's your number-one chance to bring them in quick. That's essential because you’ll never get a chance to share your vision for creating a brighter future if you can’t get donors in the door. 

But how to get donors through that door . . .

Remember before when I mentioned drama?

We humans are storytelling animals. We not only want to tell our own stories, we want to hear stories. We want to be moved by stories. We want to experience stories.

The most moving type of story sets aside linear thinking for emotion.

Despite what you might think, the part of your donor’s brain that makes giving decisions isn’t the measured, logical, fastidious part. It’s the lurking lizard-brain. If we want to receive a gift from a donor prospect, we need to remember this.

A direct mail letter is not the place to recite your org's history, your list of capabilities, your many successes. Instead, you want to show the what of what you’re doing. You want to demonstrate the why through a powerful story full of the essential characters.

Is there a bad guy? Quote him. Is there a protagonist in distress? Tell their story. Get into it and show in a visceral way what you—and your donors—are fighting for.

Be bold. Be courageous. Don’t shy away from the emotional.

Think about it this way: would you rather read a moving saga starring you as the hero or a doctoral-thesis-length proposal chockfull of theory and statistics?

I know which I would choose. Your donor does, too.