We all invite engagement from friends. I mean, Facebook exists, right? And last time I checked, no one was forcing us to read our news feeds. I don’t know about you, but my Facebook news feed is full of updates on the joys and challenges of parenting: videos of little Jimmy’s dance moves and photos of Susie’s first day of school. The people providing these updates are our friends, so we’re interested and invested. The messenger matters.
This holds true for donor engagement as well. Consider our little buddy Miko here. The Borneo Orangutan Protection Foundation provides “adoptive parents” of its primates access to a secure website, birthday cards, video updates and status reports from caregivers. Sounds a little like Facebook, doesn’t it?
If the messenger is Miko, we’re happy to ignore his propensity to poop on our shoes while we ogle his cuteness. In fact, we expect this behavior…nay, I say, look forward to it. (“Isn’t it cute the way Johnny burps,” sweetly asks the new mother.) It is his unexpected behavior that makes him so compelling.
This organization also does a particularly good job of communicating from the folks on the front line, where so much the do-gooding happens.
What messengers are on your front lines?