Wield Influence Just Like A Big Money Donor

You’re in for a treat today because you’re going to learn how you can be just like a large donor; without needing all of that money. Moreover, we’re going to tie this into our series of posts that take a cue from public radio with another variation on their more successful pledge drive themes, as defined by June Thomas’ excellent 2009 article in Slate Magazine on the topic of public radio pledge drives, to help promote the Orchestra 990 Database Project’s Kickstarter campaign.

Today’s Appeal Is About Influence: Do What The Big Money People Do

Have you ever wondered what the secret is behind how wealthy donors become involved in projects? Let’s just keep this between us but the secret is simple: they leverage favors and one-upmanship.

Here’s one example; a wealthy insider decides to become part of an organization’s fundraising campaign knowing full well that each and every other wealthy insider they hit up for a donation is going to come back at a later date asking for a donation to his/her cause; and you can be damned well sure that you’re going to contribute when they come knocking. Break that cycle and you risk becoming a pariah.

Next up is leveraging advantage over your peers by contributing more than they did. “Hey there fellow wealthy insider, I heard you just gave $1 million to the Build-A-Thing campaign and I think that’s great; so much so that I just gave $1.5 million.”

Do you see how simple it is?*

And now you get a chance to practice both skills and enter the weekend riding the dual rush of high risk favor trading and market rate psychological validation; it will be like an emotional cocktail made from all your favorite top shelf spirits! How incredible is that?

Here’s all you need to do:

1. If you’ve donated to a friend’s Kickstarter or similar type of project then this is the ideal time to demonstrate your reciprocal leverage and hit them up for a donation to the Orchestra 990 Database Project. If they don’t follow through then spurn them as you would a rabid dog. No mercy!
   Wealthy Insider Tip: you can use the country club as a good social setting to call on your colleagues since peer witnesses add extra pressure to comply; but if you don’t have a club membership, then Facebook and Twitter are fabulous surrogates and have the double benefit of acting like a social pressure force multiplier.
2. Look at the list of current Orchestra 990 Database Project backers for one of your peers, see how much they pledged, then double it. Then promptly head over to Facebook and Twitter to post the pledge notice and make sure to tag your friends saying something like “Thanks for turning me on to such a great project [tag friend name here], I liked it so much I doubled your pledge. #GivingIsAwesome”

So what are you waiting for, there are only 14 days left and we have plenty of fundraising ground to cover so get out there and get your influence on.

If you haven’t already become a backer, you had better hurry or you’re going to risk being losing the opportunity to wield influence and leverage favors!