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What if sharing evidence of your organization's impact actually resulted in less giving?

It sounds counterintuitive. After all, demonstrating impact is an important responsibility of nonprofit communicators. We want donors to understand that their contributions make a difference, and we work hard to gather the stories, statistics, and outcomes that demonstrate it.

But even compelling information doesn't always have the effect we expect.

In one study, researchers tested two versions of a nonprofit's fundraising appeal. Both told the same personal story, but one concluded with an emotional narrative about a mother's hopes for her children, while the other emphasized data demonstrating the program's impact.

The findings were telling. The evidence-focused appeal increased giving among larger previous donors, while smaller previous donors were less likely to make a gift. Overall, it did not produce a statistically significant increase in giving.

I find that compelling because it challenges an assumption we can easily make when developing communications: that including more valuable information necessarily makes our message stronger.

Of course, the takeaway isn't that nonprofits should stop sharing evidence of impact. It's that we can't communicate everything to everyone all the time, particularly when we're asking someone to act.

Knowing Our Audience Isn't the Hard Part

Most of us already understand the importance of knowing our audience. What's harder is consistently applying that understanding when competing priorities and limited capacity push us toward accomplishing too much with a single communication.

In nonprofit fundraising, it's common for an appeal to carry several objectives at once: demonstrate effectiveness, communicate an urgent need, highlight organizational priorities, recognize important partners, and inspire someone to give.

Each may be worthwhile, but including them all doesn't necessarily make the appeal stronger.

The study is a useful reminder that what resonates with one group may not resonate with another. Effective communications require decisions about what information to emphasize, who we're trying to reach, and what we're asking that communication to accomplish.

Fortunately, we don't always need sophisticated audience research to make more informed decisions. Much of what we need to know may already be emerging in our donor relationships.

Start With What Your Donors Are Already Telling You

One of the most accessible sources of audience insight is the development team itself.

Fundraisers have conversations every day that can inform communications planning. The challenge is recognizing those insights, sharing them, and putting them to use.

I'd suggest asking your team to pay attention to three things:

1. Questions that come up repeatedly. Are donors consistently asking how you measure success, what happens to participants after they leave your program, or how their contributions are used? Look beyond the immediate answers to consider what those questions reveal about what matters to supporters.

2. Information that prompts follow-up questions. What details make someone curious enough to ask for more? Those moments can help identify which aspects of your work resonate with different audiences.

3. Stories or outcomes donors remember. What do supporters bring up in later conversations? Which details do they repeat to others? What sticks with people can offer useful clues about what made a connection.

These observations aren't definitive measures of donor motivation, but they can help your team make more informed decisions.

Put Those Observations to Work

The next step is to ensure these insights don't stay exclusively with the person who had the conversation.

You don't need a new system. Take a few minutes during an existing development team meeting to discuss what you're hearing and look for patterns. Keep a simple running record that whoever develops your communications can reference.

Then try something different.

If donors consistently ask about long-term outcomes, feature those outcomes more prominently in your next appeal or stewardship piece and see how they respond. If certain supporters respond strongly to tangible examples of what their gifts make possible, try that approach with a relevant donor group.

Pay attention to the response. Does it generate more engagement, conversations, or giving? Where possible, compare the results with previous communications or test different approaches.

A handful of donor conversations won't tell you what an entire audience wants. But they can provide a starting point for testing ideas rather than relying exclusively on assumptions.

The goal isn't to develop a different communication for every donor. It's to make more informed choices about the communications you're already creating.

Strategic Communications Require Choices

One of the challenges in nonprofit communications is that we have so much worth sharing. From urgent needs and compelling stories to program outcomes and organizational achievements, there's rarely a shortage of important information.

But it doesn't all belong in every communication.

This is especially true of persuasive messaging, where competing information can distract from the action we're hoping someone will take.

It's also worth remembering that communications don't exist in isolation. An appeal, an impact report, a donor conversation, and a stewardship email can each serve a different purpose while contributing to the same relationship.

An effective communications strategy considers not only how to make each message stronger, but how those messages work together over time.

That requires prioritization. Sometimes we need to emphasize the emotional connection. Other times, we need to demonstrate effectiveness, provide reassurance, or help someone better understand a complex aspect of our work.

The objective isn't to communicate less overall. It's to be more intentional about when, where, and how we communicate what matters.

For nonprofit leaders juggling multiple responsibilities, this may mean making more room for strategy before moving into execution. Not necessarily adding another project or expanding the team's workload but bringing more purpose to the work already underway.

Sometimes, the most important strategic decision isn't what to include. It's what to save for another conversation.

Research referenced

Karlan, D., & Wood, D. H. (2017). The Effect of Effectiveness: Donor Response to Aid Effectiveness in a Direct Mail Fundraising Experiment. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 66, 1–8.

Read the study