You may have noticed a mysterious stranger pop up on twitter in the last few days. His name is Gary the Donor and he’s becoming a bit of a celebrity. If you attended Fraser’s ‘Passion Makeover’ at Congress last week, or have read our recent whitepaper, The 3D Donor, you’re already familiar with him. If not, meet Gary:
Cute little fellow, isn’t he?
Gary the Donor is a reminder to all of us to pay attention to the heart, head and soul of our donors. As Fraser puts it in The 3D Donor:
Your donor lives – moment to moment – in three parallel states of awareness:
- the rational state– where thinking and calculation operates non-stop
- the emotional state – where spontaneous feelings affect behaviour and thoughts, and
- the spiritual state – where the soul seeks fulfillment at a deep and profound human level.
All of us who raise funds for a living speak to our donors’ brains. Some of us speak to our donors’ hearts. Very few of us even think of connecting with our donors’ souls.
Yet, if we really want to form deep human relationships – whether with our donors, our spouses, our closest friends or our kids – we need to reach others on all three levels.
Gary the Donor is your visual reminder to help donors understand you by connecting to their brains, touch their hearts and reach up to that halo to connect with their human spirit.
Over the next while, you’ll hear more about (and from) Gary. On twitter, Gary the Donor will answer your questions about connecting to donors, and will offer some critique of his own. On the Good Works blog, Gary will answer any questions that come his way.
Think of Gary as the ‘Dear Abby’ of the fundraising world.
(Have a question for Gary? You can send them to us via our contact us form).
This post was written by Leah Eustace, ACFRE, former Principal and Chief Idea Goddess at Good Works.
