Do you feel like you have educated potential donors about the benefits of the SGO program, but you just aren’t seeing the fruits of your effort?  An article in Thought Catalog suggests that the key to action may be providing practical and personal information on how to donate.

Malcolm Gladwell’s bestselling book The Tipping Point : How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference describes the shift that happens when one goes from knowing they should do something to actually doing it. In an example where students were being urged to get tetanus shots, Gladwell states “What the tetanus intervention needed in order to tip was not an avalanche of new or additional information.  What it needed was a subtle but significant change in presentation.”  If you haven’t read the book, here is an article that describes the change that was made to bump the number of students receiving the needed vaccinations from 3% to 28%.  Surprisingly, the information that was the tipping point included a simple map to the health center along with the hours of operation.

So, how can we apply the same principles to encouraging donations to your school’s SGO fund?  Here are a few suggestions, but we bet you can add to this list:

1. Include a donor form or donor brochure in your mail solicitations, and maybe even a return envelope (eliminate any barriers that you can think of!)
2. Place a “donate now” link in a prominent place in email communication (one click to the donor form)
3. Provide a list of questions that someone considering an SGO gift could ask their financial planner (we tell them to talk to their planner, but maybe they don’t know what to ask)
4. Include a link to the form for donating non-cash assets on your webpage (again, one click)
5. Hand a QCD brochure to your donors who are over 70 (remember, giving this way increased by more than 70% last year!)

What ideas do you have to move your past and potential donors from thinking that the SGO is a good way to give to making a donation? We would love your comments!