4 Fundraising Lessons Learned from a Mangy Fox

There’s a sickly fox in my neighborhood. He has a bad case mange (or so I’m told) and is clearly starving. I don’t live in a rural area or near any woods, so I wonder… what’s he doing here?

This poor little fox… lost, confused, looking for food. I’ve seen him on my street three times this week.

There Goes the Neighborhood

There’s a Facebook debate raging among my neighbors — some want to feed and medicate him, and others want to let nature take its course. We can’t seem to find anyone willing to trap him and take him back where he belongs… or to put him down.

It’s hard to know what to do. There doesn’t seem to be a clear-cut answer.

What is clear is that this fox has brought my neighbors out of the woodwork. Everyone feels strongly about it, and many have expressed willingness to step up and help (whatever that inevitably means) to feed it and provide medication, or to help make calls to animal rescue groups, for example.

Of course, this is not the first “need” presented on Facebook in my community. And, this fox has generated more outcry and compassion than other humanitarian issues (in my humble opinion) as of late.

4 Fundraising Lessons via a Mangy Fox

So this fox incident got me thinking — why do some issues tug on heartstrings and capture our attention and not others? What makes someone want to help?

With those questions in mind, here are my fundraising lessons learned from this fox with mange.

1. It’s got to be close to home

If people are going to care, more often than not, the issue needs to be close to home (or at least strike a chord). That’s not to say that many people don’t provide natural disaster relief to other communities around the world, but it’s not the same as when it’s in your backyard.

2. Your friends are involved.

Having friends care about the issue is a powerful motivating factor. You are probably familiar with the concept of peer to peer fundraising and here’s an example of people being motivated by peers.

3. You can see a tangible solution (it’s not overwhelming).

The idea of helping just one fox seems manageable. If it was a family or maybe even 100 of them, the reaction might be quite different.

4. Just because you care about something, doesn’t mean others will too.

This is perhaps the most frustrating lesson for those who feel strongly about our issues. However, as fundraisers, we need to accept and understand that our issues are not everyone’s issues.

Interestingly, the person instigating the long post about feeding and medicating this fox has never posted about helping others before. It would be an interesting study of the human psyche. In other words…

What makes someone care?

Case in Point: Helping Immigrant Children

I’ve been posting and reposting for weeks on my Facebook page about needy, immigrant children at the border. It has been a source of frustration that hasn’t gotten much traction from my posts. Now I can see that three of my four lessons discussed above simply don’t apply.

1. Immigrant children aren’t close to home.

It can be hard to care when the situation doesn’t touch us directly or the problem seems far from us.

2. I’m involved, but Facebook isn’t often truly personal.

With the constant stream of information on Facebook, it may not be the best venue for my personal outreach. If I want to engage my friends, I’ll need to reach out in more personal ways.

3. The problem is overwhelming.

It’s hard to imagine that one individual can help thousands of children, especially when they are spread all over the USA.

4. Just because it’s important to me, doesn’t mean it’s important to others.

As I mentioned above, this one can be hard to swallow. How can I care so much about something and someone else care so little?

Can you make someone care?

To Care or Not to Care?

As I discussed in a recent post, some people are simply more generous than others. It helps explain why some people without the means to do so give a lot, and others who are much more well off, give significantly less.

The other day I posed the following question to my Facebook friends:

How do you get those not paying attention to pay attention?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Plus, how can you take these mangy-fox fundraising lessons and apply them to your efforts?