If you haven't seen Inside Out 2 yet, I really recommend catching it in cinemas. I don't know about you but I find the focus and attention I'm able to give a film in the cinema is unrivalled - whereas if I watch it on Disney+, I know that I'll probably be texting people at the same time. In fact, in a recent statement, Netflix said that they are trying to deliberately trying to create content that is 'second screen simple' because they realise that so many people are not focusing on Netflix when they're watching it. This is why content is dumbing down, and I think it's a real shame... but I do know I'm as guilty of it as everyone else. Because of that I really do recommend seeing the nuance and the brilliance of Inside Out 2 in the cinema. As I focused on it, it got me thinking about one of my favourite topics... which is the USP myth. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say I think the fact that your charity needs a unique selling point to get funding is a myth. It is a very well believed one and a very widespread one, however I think I have a pretty solid evidence base.
We all know that our emotional brains are faster than our logical brains. However when you dig into it and realise our emotional brains are 2000 times faster than our logical brains... we realise that whenever funders are making a funding decision, they are, by default, making this decision emotionally.Of course they are looking for the logic that backs up their decision, but they are often looking for emotion first and then finding the logic that justifies it.A unique selling point is, by default, a logical argument rather than an emotional one. In a choice between a charity that crates the kind of change you want to see about a problem you want to solve, versus a charity that spends less pence on every pound, you're going to go for the one that solves the problem you care about more.As such, I really recommend when you think about USPs, think about emotions instead. The strongest selling point your charity can have is that you're willing to play in an emotional space. In fact, if you're going to have a USP, it should be the strength of the feeling you're trying to give people. It's really worth noting here, as our colleague Lisa often does, that when we say emotional, fundraisers often read 'sad'. And when we're telling you that your unique selling point should be giving people emotions, we are not saying that you should break their heart over and over again.
Inside Out 2 shows us that joy, anger, disgust, envy and even embarrassment are all emotions that are equally in control of our brains, and they are really worth tapping into. While you might want to leave Ennui alone because you if you're getting your funders to feel bored you're gonna hit a problem, any of the other emotions featured are a really valid starting point.
If you are an education charity, maybe you're looking at anger or disgust at the way that the system works against children. If you are a wish granting charity, maybe it's joy or envy that you're trying to create. If you are a health charity, maybe it's sadness, or fear, or joy of a cure that you're looking for.
Whatever your cause, there are likely to be some strong positive and negative emotions that underpin it, and you should really embrace those.It's worth noting that research into fundraising philanthropy that has shown that guilt and pity are quite ineffective emotions (and interestingly the emotions of guilt and shame were cut from the filming of Inside Out 2), and therefore we recommend avoiding these. Guilt can be really good at getting someone to give you money once, but they will stop engaging with you afterwards. Whereas anger, happiness or sadness or joy can be a really good source of continued, reliable investment.
If you're really interested in looking at how you can bring the emotion, rather than just the logic to your fundraising approaches, this is Fireside's bread and butter.
We can help you with your individual stories, your organisational stories, and your pitches to corporate partners. It's one of our favourite things to do, and we have availability from September!
Comments