In this month’s issue of Free Range Thinking, Andy Goodman explains why stories are more powerful than data in prompting donors to make a gift. The article presents research data that verifies what many successful fundraisers already understand: donors are significantly more likely to respond to a personal story — even if the data show that the problem is significantly larger than a single person.
What’s surprising is that — counter to many expectations — presenting a personal story and data may not be the more powerful combination. Studies for Save the Children show that a personal story all on its own still gets a better response than presenting stories and statistics combined.
