Seth Godin was one of the featured speakers at the AFP International Conference in Baltimore. He sat down with me for an exclusive interview for my Ask the Fundraising Expert series shortly before he took the stage.
Interview Highlights (Transcript)
Here are some brief highlights of the interview, but be sure to watch the video for the full interview.
Use storytelling to spread your nonprofit’s mission
AE: How can storytelling help nonprofits spread the word?
SG: When a donor donates to a charity, they are “hiring” a nonprofit to solve a problem. The question is, “What are they buying?”
Don’t get hung up in the “urgency” of the problem. That’s not what people buy.
A big mistake charities make is getting to (talking about) the facts. No one looks at the facts when they’re buying a car… or a chocolate bar!
Watch the full interview for more on this topic.
Advice for nonprofit board members
AE: If you were in front of a nonprofit board, what’s one piece of advice you would give them?
SG: The thing that board members have to understand is that we invented nonprofits for a reason.
The reason is; it’s okay to fail.
The entire reason we have nonprofits is that we don’t know how to solve these problems. Nonprofits are supposed to be scientists – looking for solutions to the problems.
There are no comfortable problems left to be solved.
AE: Yes, nonprofits are afraid of taking risks, because they don’t want their donors to think they are failing.
So how do we get nonprofits (and board members) more comfortable taking risks, and explaining those risks to donors?
SG: Nonprofits have gotten into an easy trope — give us money, and we’ll solve the problem.
We need to say to our donors, “This is difficult, and it’s not going to happen tomorrow, but we can do it together.”
Are you willing to do the hard work of telling your donors the truth about where we’re going to go next?
The best stories [to tell your donors] are the true stories.
AE: Great reminder to have board members take the long view!
Watch the full interview for more on this topic.
Advice for millennials entering the nonprofit sector
AE: What would you say to millennials or the new fundraisers?
SG: Good news! If you can raise money, you’re never going to have trouble getting a job.
So the question is: How do you raise money? Dialing for dollars? If so, you’re interchangeable.
The way great fundraising is done is connecting the disconnected, and organizing tribes of people who want to hear from each other and you’re at the center of it.
Watch the full interview for more on this topic.
An important tip from his 2015 AFP keynote address
AE: Can you give us one highlight from your upcoming speech?
SG: Making an average pitch to average people, or having an average gala for average people isn’t going to scale anymore.
You’ve got to find the people who care. Those people are worth all of our time.
Watch the full interview for more on this topic.
More Nuggets of Nonprofit Wisdom from Seth Godin
This was an amazing interview, and you’ve got to watch it to get all the good stuff.
My thanks to Seth Godin for taking the time to share his fundraising insights. Check out Seth’s blog to get a daily dose of his marketing wisdom.
What do you think of what Seth had to say? Share your thoughts in the comments.
I attended the AFP conference and enjoyed Seth Godin’s keynote address. Please give us more opportunities to view videos like this one.
I post to the blog weekly (videos are included every other week at this point) on Wednesdays. Please join my list, so you are notified when they come out. http://www.tripointfundraising.com/free
Hi Amy,
I have waited long to come to this point ans I feel previleged to have found you contact. As we move forward to make a responsible and positive difference in our society and, by increment, to our world, I will be more than glad to receive your posts and notifications when you post videos.
Very grateful
Refreshing and insightful comments from Seth – thank you Amy.
I love it on those semi-rare occasions when the reality matches the hype. This (yes, amazing) interview really cut through the background noise that can tend to blunt the power of our messages to potential major donors. Words of practical wisdom. Thank you.
This was extremely helpful! I would love to see more handson examples demonstrating this approach.
Excellent interview, especially the insights into donor motivation and the importance of risk and doubt and transparency. I’m glad Seth made the point that a true story is always most effective. My takeaway today is that a good starting point for change is *to make that true story both accessible and compelling*. So much more satisfying for all concerned.
Yes! There were so many great takeaways. Thanks for sharing yours!
I always find a nugget of information from Seth. I think it rings true about “let average people worry about average people.” The first book Seth wrote that I read was Purple Cow in 2007 (four years after he published the book.) Now, Seth’s blog is a connector and conversation I have with many clients and colleagues of mine. His blog-this morning-brought me to this video. I might be on the fringe/sigma 6 of the bell curve today but it has taken time. As “people like ‘us’ do things like ‘this’,” we need to be reminded that our urgency for our mission doesn’t happen over night. The conversations we have should connect people – even if it takes time. Pre-2003: I am positive Seth had a thought about Purple Cow. 2003: Purple Cow was published. 2007: I picked up Purple Cow. Present: I am now focused on shipping great work. “People like ‘us,’ do things like ‘this’.”
Thanks for sharing, Joshua! I’m glad you found insight through this video, and all of Seth’s amazing work.
Excellent interview, excellent points. Thank you.
As always, Seth Godin puts the knife on the wound. We try so hard to reach the mass of people in an era when mass media or mass market don’t exist anymore. It isn’t enough to tell a story or even a good story, you have to tell the right story to the right people.
You’re right – fundraising is about building relationship – one at a time, and connecting the right people to the right cause!
I’ve just become involved with a non profit in support of the artist community in our area and, quite frankly, have found myself in search of footing on new terrain. I’m very pleased to have found your website.
Your interview with Seth is wonderful!
I look forward to learning much more. Thank you for posting this and the work that you do!
I’m glad you found me too! Be sure to sign up for my e-newsletter, for weekly posts and videos – and you’ll get my eBooks on fundraising for free! http://www.tripointfundraising.com/free
Great video & interview. I heard Seth speak at the conference. He always empowers me and reignites my passion for fundraising.
Excellent message, lot of great points! The awareness of finding those people that have a strong interest, care about your mission and want to be on board with what you are doing.
The normal things are not working, we must find the average person with an interest to get behind our non-profit projects.
Love the point, yes, there is a risk but we are looking for ways to solve the problem.
Thanks for sharing!!!
Gene and Arlene Rumley
Founders of Mission For Orphans ( Main projects is with orphans and street feeding in India)
Thank you for this interview with Seth. I found it extremely helpful and I look forward to coming back again soon.
Matthew
I have been thinking about this awesome interview all day and agree on all points Mr. Godin mentioned; I have one unsettled thought though. I know, and believe I understand, that the facts are not what gets people in the door. As Simon Sinek says, “people follow you not for what you do, but WHY you do it”, but I cannot help to wonder, over time, if data has to support your story, a true story as he says. Is he going no further than to say keep to the purpose when you bring someone in, when they buy the chocolate bar? I guess I wonder what is thought about where and when do facts play in? Will people do their own research, not care, or will it eventually be up to you? I look foward to subscribing!
Amy, congratulations on doing a terrific interview with Seth Godin. I agree with all of the positive comments your readers/viewers have posted here. However, I must confess to being a bit frustrated. Allow me to explain:
Having started my fundraising career in 1980, I suppose I’m something of an old-timer in the profession. My 35 years of experience gives me a tremendous amount of perspective. Sometimes, that’s very good. Other times, it’s just plain sad. Unfortunately, your interview with Godin falls into the latter category.
The issues you and Godin discussed are critical. His insights are valid. Sadly, I’ve heard the same discussion for decades resulting in precious little change in the nonprofit sector. That’s why I’m frustrated. Those of us that get-it continue to harp on these issues in something akin to an echo chamber. We talk amongst ourselves about these problems and solutions. Yet, expanding the circle of folks who get-it has been painfully slow.
Godin’s greatest gift is not his insight. Instead, it’s his ability to explain, in a meaningful, simple, compelling way, what many have long known. However, if the only folks listening to him are the people who already get-it or mostly get-it, not much will change for the nonprofit sector. To change nonprofit culture will require a massive sustained effort. One small thing we all can do is share Godin’s insights beyond the echo-chamber.
For example, I noticed as I was writing this comment that 151 of your readers Tweeted about this post. That’s nice. However, I suspect that that is a small fraction of the number of folks who actually read your post and viewed the video. As nonprofit professionals who get-it, we need to do a better job of getting key messages out. We also need to get key messages out to the right people.
I encourage everyone who visits this post to share it on social media. Perhaps more importantly, I also encourage folks to share it with their senior staff and board members. Godin talked about putting the right story in front of the right people. Not only do we need to do that as fundraisers, we need to do that as nonprofit change agents.
Thank you for your post and everything you do to help the nonprofit sector.
Michael,
Thank you for your thoughtful reply. Many of us who have been around a while share your frustration. And, although the internet and social media have been around for a while now, I believe we’re just getting started on how we spread and share messages – which is why I started doing a video series called “Ask the Fundraising Expert” – including this interview with Seth Godin. My hope is to be able to reach significantly more people – board members, staff members, and volunteers – so we can successfully work together to solve the biggest problems around the world.
I am so grateful to Godin for taking the time to do this interview, because his loyal followers are sharing the message well beyond the scope of our “normal” audience. You are right – this interview and the conversation it generates should be shared far and wide, and Godin is helping do just that.
Keep the great comments coming!
Amy
Thank you for sharing this interview and the other helpful resources you provide. I just started in the non-profit world and am learning so much from helpful people like you. Keep up the good work!
Great interview, thanks for publishing it.
Braco Amy and Seth!
Absolutely LOVED this interview with Seth and affirms our belief that facts tell but stories sell! I’m ready to be an eager scientist!
Jim
Thanks, Jim! We all need to experiment more at our nonprofits – don’t you think? How else will we solve the BIG problems we face?
What a fascinating, succinct interview and tremendous advice – really well done!
I am not a fund raiser, rather a new author and a man with an incredible gift of healing who is invested in helping people heal from cancer. Until I watched your interview with Seth I had no idea how to talk about what I do. I was embarrassed. It was easier to say read my book, The Invitation for a Miracle, But I have no audience and no voice, at least I didn’t until I watched this enlightening interview. I only have to be honest and open and cheerful and apply what I learned here to launch my book and start my non-profit combining miracles with medicine. My sincere thanks to you and Seth for making such a huge difference in my life. Wow, but this is a miracle.
Set was wonderfully refreshing! His message of connecting the disconnected is a powerful one.
Thank you!
Powerful words; I enjoyed this. As a newcomer, some specific examples of messages would be great!
Thanks so much for this insightful interview Amy! I’m so pumped!!
Hooray, Sharon! I’m pumped too!
I have a new non-profit raising money to get the economically challenged into sober living homes and had heard several times the question, what is your target audience. I never really knew, we were just going after whatever we could get but the last question that you asked Seth answered that question for us.
Yes it is inspiring and now we have a new direction, thanks
Excellent tips for fundraising! Enjoyed your advice on the panel today at the FDU Conference for Women in Nonprofit Leadership.
I actually had the privilege of interviewing Seth Godin right after AFPFC.
He’s such an inspiration.
Here’s the interview, for anyone interested in a couple more insights from Seth: http://blog.causeview.com/an-interview-with-seth-godin-his-fundraising-ideas-and-afpfc
Great message and thought starter for fundraisers! Thanks for sharing.
Made my day. Loved the point about failure – which is also what makes our non-profit stories some of the best stories – because of the struggle, which we often leave out. And great insight on giving value back – doesn’t that say something about how we thank and respond to donations? Just fabulous.
I’m a fan of Seth Godin’s. He reliably cuts to the core. However, his seemingly-wholesale dismissal of data puzzles me.
The story needs to come first and last. Absolutely. However, I know many donors who love facts, who demand accountability. My experience is that data, well chosen, boosts the story. They help point us toward where we can improve.
I’d so appreciate hearing from a speaker who can bridge Godin’s perspective with the growing trend toward quantified accountability.
Great point, Beth! Using data and stories together is the most powerful!
Beth, I hope you can see that data is just one form of a story.
No one ever knows all the data, all the truth, all the facts. And so the data we present, the cost per this or the results of that… merely stories as well.
Yes, some people want the data story. Once you realize that’s what they want, you can provide it.
Loved the millennials question! And Seth’s answer of “connecting the disconnected.”
Thank you for the information and inspiration. Our commercial cleaning company is spearheading a fundraising campaign (and gala) to raise money for a vocational school in Uganda. Story telling is so important here…thanks!
Amy,
Thank you for presenting thoughtful questions to Seth, in turn bringing thoughtful answers that can help professionals go beyond the norm. Too much fundraising and non-profit thinking emanates from a place of fear. This is a helpful reminder to be courageous and utilize the things we do have, not what we don’t!
Great interview. We have a list of VIP donors who have shown us that they are passionate about what we do. We are in the process of applying outreach strategies to each of them. I would love to learn about what other non-profits do for their special group of donors that is cutting edge, unique and impactful.
I thought this was a REALLY helpful (and short) video to watch. I hear “tell a story” everywhere — not a new concept. But I realized from just one line he said that we haven’t kept our story fresh or compelling. I need to do the work to collect some new stories that illustrate the mission.
Also the part about “risking” was great. I think we’ve gone too much to fundraising for the “urgent project,” rather than fundraising for the overall mission. THANKS AMY AND SETH!
This video was AHMAZING! Inspiring, TRUE, and insightful! THANK YOU!
Amy,
This was an amazing video that enlightened my 12 + years of fundraising. I need to get he scientist in me out to the public. Thank you for this video! I am excited again.
like the idea of ‘looking for the edge people’
Good information, I watched the video 3 times
Simple observations. Well worth my time
Amy, that was a very good interview with Mr. Godin. Thank you!
My take-away is to look at building the ‘TRIBE”; it makes so much sense to invest your energies there. Create a Culture that is attractive to your Donors; the Donors are the Tribesmen that make up the Culture. They are the ones that want to contribute, to help us – help the ‘kids’… Once the Tribe is working together, and as you add new members, it will possibly (maybe likely) grow on its own accord, with people referring others to the group, for the benefit they enjoy in being a member of the Tribe.
Everybody likes to be a part of something that’s worthwhile and benefiting others. In our case it is working with under-served youngsters, and giving them a pathway to get out of the poverty into which they were born.