Fearless Fundraising: Start With the Problem (Ep. 66)

Before you ask someone to support your nonprofit, can you clearly explain the problem you’re asking them to help solve?That sounds simple, but it’s one of the places nonprofit fundraising communication often gets complicated. We become really good at explaining our organization, our programs, our history, and everything we’re doing. But to someone hearing about our work for the first time, we may be starting in the middle of the story.In this episode, we begin a five-part series walking through the Fearless Fundraising Framework: Problem, Solution, Ask, Urgency, and Action. Step one is the problem. You’ll learn how to develop a nonprofit problem statement that helps potential donors understand why your organization needs to exist before you begin explaining what your organization does. We’ll talk about:• Why fundraising communication should begin with the problem, not your organization • How to make a nonprofit problem statement more specific and understandable • Why clarity is usually more valuable than overwhelming donors with statistics • How stories help move a problem from abstract to personal • Why your nonprofit shouldn't try to solve every problem you care about • How a clear problem can also prevent mission drift • Why nonprofit jargon makes fundraising communication harder to understand • A simple exercise for testing whether your board can clearly explain the problem you solve Your exercise after this episode is simple:“The problem we exist to solve is __________.” Finish that sentence in one sentence, then test it against four questions:Is it specific? Is it human? Is it focused? Is it clear? Because fearless fundraising starts long before you actually ask someone for money. It starts with knowing exactly why your work needs to exist. Build Your Fearless Fundraising Framework If fundraising is one of the biggest challenges facing your nonprofit, I’d be glad to help you build your framework.  offer a complimentary 90-minute coaching call where we’ll work together to build your nonprofit’s Fearless Fundraising Framework around the five pieces every fundraising conversation needs: Problem. Solution. Ask. Urgency. Action. You’ll leave with clearer language you can use in donor conversations, fundraising emails, your website, and other fundraising communication. Visit nonprofitlaunchplan.com and click Book A Call to schedule your complimentary 90-minute coaching call. In This Series This is Part 1 of a five-part series on the Fearless Fundraising Framework.Part 1: Problem Part 2: Solution Part 3: Ask Part 4: Urgency Part 5: ActionConnect with MattEmail: matt@nonprofitlaunchplan.com Matt's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattstockman/