Fearless Fundraising (Step 1): Start With the Problem (Ep. 66)

Before you ask someone to support your nonprofit, can you clearly explain the problem you’re asking them to help solve?

That sounds simple, but it’s one of the places nonprofit fundraising communication often gets complicated. We become really good at explaining our organization, our programs, our history, and everything we’re doing. But to someone hearing about our work for the first time, we may be starting in the middle of the story.

In this episode, we begin a five-part series walking through the Fearless Fundraising Framework: Problem, Solution, Ask, Urgency, and Action.

Step one is the problem.

You’ll learn how to develop a nonprofit problem statement that helps potential donors understand why your organization needs to exist before you begin explaining what your organization does.

We’ll talk about:

• Why fundraising communication should begin with the problem, not your organization

• How to make a nonprofit problem statement more specific and understandable

• Why clarity is usually more valuable than overwhelming donors with statistics

• How stories help move a problem from abstract to personal

• Why your nonprofit shouldn't try to solve every problem you care about

• How a clear problem can also prevent mission drift