Selling Your Cause: Lessons for Nonprofits

The Tree of Why, The Building Smell Test, and Other Lessons in Appealing to Self-interest

A recent seminar called How To Sell Green addressed how business and real estate professionals can make their case for selling sustainable buildings. In listening to the session, conducted by Lauren Yarmuth Principal of YRG Sustainability, I culled some lessons for nonprofit organizations in how to sell your cause.

6 Ways to Sell Solar Panels

One segment looked at how to sell solar panels for the roof of someone’s house. We all know that solar panels are good for the environment, but what motivates people to buy them? Consider these reasons:

Cost savings on energy through reduced monthly energy costs (after the initial payback period).
Reduced reliance on coal for energy can mean environmental benefits of less mountain top mining for coal and improved air quality from burning less coal.
Not using energy from the utility company reduces the pressure on the electric grid, which can reduce the chance of a blackout.
Less reliance on home heating oil can translate into less dependence on foreign oil and stronger national security.
Generating your own energy can provide a feeling of control over your energy and and sense of independence from the utility company.
It looks cool. You get to showcase your environmentalism to your neighbors.

The varied reasons provide a lesson for nonprofits in how one mission can be construed in many ways. Your goal is to help connect the dots for your donors, understanding what motivates them and crafting your message to appeal to their interests.

The Tree of Why: Uncovering Motivations

So how do you sell such abstract concepts? For that, we turn to what Lauren calls, The Tree of Why. Ask people why they are interested, and keep asking them why questions until you get to the fundamental truth (which may come down to love). This will help people to understand what is really motivating them, and that will change the criteria for the action they are considering (for a nonprofit, that means, that may mean making a donation, attending an event, or leaving a bequest).

For example, ask the business person, Why are you constructing a new building? To have an office for staff. Why do you need an office for your staff? So the business can run more efficiently? Why do you need the business to run more efficiently? So it can more profitable? Why? So I can provide for my family? Why? Because I love them.

So in the end, you are building a building because you love your family. Designing the building with that reason in mind will yield a very different result than creating one for another reason.Non profits can do the same with their donors. Asking why they give can yield many different reasons, including altruistic (“It makes me feel good”), values-based (“it’s the right thing to do”), pressure (“I need to keep up with the Joneses), guilt-induced (“I feel obligated to give”), ego-driven (“I want to leave a legacy”) and selfish (“I want to be recognized). Understanding your donors’ motivations can help you craft messages that resonate with them and you will be more effective in your fundraising.

RESOURCE: To uncover your donors’ motivations, ask them. Download our PDF kit on conducting research, which contains sample questions to ask.

The Building Smell Test: Making the Intangible Tangible

It’s hard to sell something that isn’t. For example, an apartment building created with environmentally-responsible construction materials won’t be releasing volatile organic compounds found in many building products used in traditional buildings. So, how can the prospective homeowner know the difference between the green building and the non-green one?

The smart developer will offer tours of the building during construction so prospective buyers can smell the lack of dangerous gasses before the walls are sealed and ask them to tour other buildings under construction. The key is to make the intangible qualities as real as possible.

Look for other ways to bring the hidden elements to life. For example thermal imaging can show where heat is escaping, and meter comparisons can demonstrate the energy savings.

The lessons for nonprofits: How can you make your mission real? How can you quantify the problems that you are addressing and the impact that you are having? City Harvest mails out empty brown lunch bags to donors so they can feel the impact of an actual meal that someone is missing out on. For creative ideas to inspire your donors, call Red Rooster Group.

SOURCE: Seminar: How To Sell Green: A Building / Real Estate Professional’s Guide to Making the Case, presented by Lauren Yarmuth, Principal, YRG Sustainability on Wednesday, September 22, 2010 in New York City.

For effective marketing, design and fundraising for your organization, contact us.

Howard Adam Levy, is Principal of Red Rooster Group, a New York based graphic design firm that creates effective brands, websites and marketing campaigns for nonprofits to increase their visibility, fundraising and communications effectiveness. Contact us at info@redroostergroup.com.

environment, green design, Nonprofit Communications, Nonprofit Fundraising