Where are you on the remarkability curve?

Whenever we undertake research with donors, we rarely hear them question the grass roots work of the charities they support…

“The trouble with that charity is they aren’t that good at drilling wells.”“I’m not sure if the housing they provide is good enough.”

“I know they distribute food, but is it really nutritious?”

“They could be more efficient. This other charity can immunise 80 children in an hour. Why can they only do 55?”

Donors care about how charities use their money, but tend to concentrate on overall efficiency, wondering whether their money actually “gets through” or “makes a difference”.

As we’ve seen, not many charities are any good at telling them, most donors tend to judge their work on how well the charity treats them as donors.

That’s a topic on which donors are the experts. They are very happy to talk about the good things and bad things that happen to them.

And as fundraisers we need to give them some great things to talk about. Particularly with the growth in this social media stuff that I keep reading about.

We all want our charities to be remarkable. We just need to concentrate on making them remarkable for the right reasons.

Where would your charity appear on the remarkability curve?

Note: I’ve used this chart for years and can’t remember where the inspiration came from. If it’s you let me know and I’ll give you the credit you deserve.