The Mother Teresa Effect

I've recently read an excellent book called Made to Stick* which quotes Mother Teresa as follows:

"If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will."

The authors aptly applied the quote to a clever study done by Carnegie Mellon University. After being paid $5.00 for filling out a random survey, test participants were given an envelope and and one of two versions of an appeal letter for Save the Children. Version one featured statistics: 3 million children facing hunger in Malawai, 4 million Angolans forced to flee their homes, and 11 million Ethiopians needing immediate food assistance.

The second letter focused solely on the plight of Rokia, a girl from Mali, Africa. This letter described how the money donated would help feed and educate her, and provide medical care.

The results, though not surprising, were compelling: donations by people who read about Rokia averaged $2.38, vs. $1.14 for the statistics-based version. Similar to Mother Teresa, the participants were moved to a much higher level of action when they saw how they could make a real difference in one person's life, as opposed to a tiny difference in the lives of millions.

Now this is not news to most nonprofits. Regardless of what media is used, telling a story of one person, one animal, one place that benefits from a donation has long been proven to be more effective than broad statistics. But what far too many nonprofits have not embraced is how online social network fundraising is tailor-made to deliver such a personal message, in a way not possible before this decade.

These personal appeals can be made on FaceBook and Twitter – both very effective at raising awareness. But the story that your supporters tell can be diluted or lost completely among all the wall postings, Tweets, and other day-to-day messages on these mass communication sites.

But a story told on DonorPages, or some other dedicated peer-to-peer fundraising web 2.0 based portal, not only retains its emotional power, it also adds the 'voice' of your supporter/fundraiser to the appeal. In that way, your supporter, by virtue of his or her relationship with the page visitor, becomes part of the story. The visitor to the page is there solely because your supporter is their friend, their colleague, their brother, sister, relative, and they read why your supporter is passionate about your cause. They see your supporter's photo. They care because your supporter cares. And they are far more likely to give – and give more – solely because of their affinity for your supporter.

Not surprisingly, some of DonorPages' most successful individual pages are those where the fundraiser has a personal connection to the cause. An illness that's affected their family. A related event that changed their lives. And not every supporter will be eloquent – you may need to guide and encourage your supporter/fundraisers with text they can edit or build on. But in the end, their personal commitment will tell the story of your mission, and how one passionate person can make the difference.