People look at issues through the lens of personal narrative. We know best what we see frequently and experience daily. Nothing drives a person to act like something that is affecting them personally.
You’re much more likely to get involved in a cause if it’s next door.
For your large national or international organization, the trick is to frame your global issue locally. Framing an issue locally does two things right away:
- It affects the donor personally, so they’ll want to do something about it.
- It makes the problem seem solvable. Finding homes for the world’s 500,000,000 orphans seems totally impossible. Finding a home for Jonny from Columbus seems absolutely doable.
Are there ways to make your donors feel like they’ve got a stake in your mission? How can you involve your donor in the narrative of your organization or campaign?
(Thanks to Ben Rattray of change.org for some of the ideas used here.)