If your goal is to build a lasting, long-term movement, you’ll inevitably need to contact your audience during periods of crisis and widespread grief.
You and your team might be stretching every dollar to serve your community even as resources run low. At the same time, you might be concerned about offending your supporters or putting unnecessary pressure on people grappling with loss.
Fortunately, there are ways to continue meeting your fundraising and engagement goals while being sensitive to the reality that some people are struggling. Here are some guidelines for making an ask during times of crisis or grief.
1. Seriously consider whether pressing pause is the best course of action
Sometimes, external deadlines (i.e., Election Day) mean you can't take a break even if you wish you could, but 99.9% of "business as usual" plans can wait a few days or weeks.
2. Get serious about segmenting your audience
Don't send fundraising asks to people who are directly impacted by disaster. When appropriate, send support, resources, and community to the people who are most likely to be in pain. Send asks for funding and solidarity to the people who aren’t likely to be navigating trauma.
If you aren’t able to build these segments, book a call with us, and we can talk about ways to learn more about your audience.
Be honest and vulnerable
It never hurts to remind supporters that your organization is staffed by fellow human beings with their own challenges and emotions. By displaying honesty and vulnerability—both about your need for support and about the pain your audience is dealing with—you can form more authentic connections with your community.
It’s always a good idea to give before you ask. If you haven’t reached out to your audience in a while, check in on them and offer support in a non-transactional way before you ask for anything.
Ask with compassion, but keep asking
If you're doing good work that will genuinely help people, the world needs you to have resources.
Our clients are organizations that advocate for things like health care access, gender liberation, safe conditions for working people, and a liveable planet. These are precisely the things people need right now. If your work or campaign is to advance something that will save lives, you should absolutely be promoting your cause, donation page, or online action—just take a beat and be a human first.
If you’re doing investment-worthy work and proceed with care, you may be surprised by how well your audience responds to your asks as they grieve.