#11 How to train your cause – Flatter to engage and entertain to educate

I’ve been on the receiving end of charity presentations that bore my socks off no matter how excited I was before entering the room. This is campaign suicide.

Here is a quick list of things to keep in mind when conducting the charity training of your f2f team

DO

• Tell them that you and your charity are behind them and you appreciate the vital work they do

• Give them case studies that were possible because of f2f fundraising donations

• Celebrate specific fundraisers for their quality v quantity results

• Offer price-points/shopping list that relates to the amount they are asking for

• Stick to the template of ‘Intro/History – Problem/Issue – Solution/Your work – Dollar handles’

• Give catchy one-liners that summarise your campaign such as ”a hand-up not a hand-out”

• Provide simple relatable stats that show the problem and the solution

• Give hand-outs for note-taking

• Give materials that the fundraisers can play with

DO NOT

• Tell them that they do a hard job that you couldn’t do

• Bang-on about the history of your organisation

• Celebrate their volume, they get this from their managers

• Bring a guest speaker that you haven’t heard present

• Come empty handed

An hour every eight-to-twelve weeks is enough to keep them on point, but make sure you turn up early to set up the room so this doesn’t eat out of your allotted period.

Remember - you must flatter to engage and entertain to educate.