A donor has a range of motivations for giving to a particular cause. If you can identify what type of donor aligns with your mission, you can make your fundraising strategy much more efficient because you know exactly who to target.
Enter: The Appeal Spectrum, a concept from author Tom Ralser’s book, ROI for Nonprofits: The New Key to Sustainability. Use the spectrum to identify donors likely to align with your organization’s mission — and invest in it. On one end are emotional, community-oriented organizations like animal shelters that attract individual donors who want to do good locally.
On the other end are think tanks focused on long-term policy change that appeals to foundations and corporations with aligned goals. Most nonprofits fall somewhere in between. The key is to identify where your mission fits on the spectrum, then target donors motivated by that type of work. Where does your organization sit on the spectrum? Use our tool to find out.