What Can You Learn from “The Naked Philanthropist”?

Kaylen Ward, who refers to herself as “The Naked Philanthropist,” has a few things she can teach you about fundraising.

The first thing the 20-year-old can teach you is the value of being honest when promoting yourself and your organization. “The Naked Philanthropist” is not a euphemism. Ward really has donated money she earned by posing nude. Furthermore, by leveraging her nudity, she encourages others to give as well.

Kaylen Ward — The Naked Philanthropist

The raging wildfires in Australia caught the attention of Ward, a resident of California, a state often plagued by brush fires. She decided to take action.

“I donated $1,000 myself,” she tells Guardian Australia. “I had a substantial amount of followers, maybe 30,000 at the time, and I thought that a lot of my followers would pitch in and send in some donations for the wildfires.”

While Instagram has suspended Ward’s account, her Twitter account now has over 288,000 Followers (Jan. 7, 2020). More importantly, Ward tells the Guardian that she estimates that $700,000 has been donated as a result of her efforts in just four days!

Here’s how Ward did it. On January 3, she tweeted (below) that she would Direct Message a nude photo of herself to anyone who provided proof that they had donated $10 or more to any number of charities dealing with the Australian fires, ranging from the Australian Red Cross to the World Wildlife Fund – Australia. Her tweet, liked over 198,000 times, includes a list of qualifying charities (below) and a barely censored image of herself (not shown).

So, here are just six things you can learn from Ward:

1. Do not fall victim to generational stereotypes.

Ward is a member of Generation Z. Gen Z is the cohort following the Millennial Generation. It’s easy to make the mistake of thinking that younger people are not particularly philanthropic. They tend not to give as much to charity as older people, and they tend to be less brand-loyal than those of older generations are. However, that doesn’t mean that younger folks aren’t generous relative to their personal income. Furthermore, just because they may not have developed loyalty to a particular charity does not mean they have no interest in philanthropy. In Ward’s case, she not only gave $1,000 of her own money, she encouraged tens of thousands of other people to donate as well.

9 Hard Truths Every Fundraiser Needs to Face in the 21st Century

In the Oscar-nominated film A Few Good Men, Jack Nicholson’s character famously shouts, “You  can’t handle the truth!”

Well, if you want to be a successful fundraising professional, you better know the truth and be prepared to handle it.

If you want to be successful at anything, you need to face the core truths involved no matter how challenging. Ignoring reality is a certain pathway to failure.

One nonprofit development truth is that authentic, donor-centered fundraising results in more donors giving more money than would otherwise be the case. Penelope Burk wrote about this years ago in her landmark book Donor Centered Fundraising, available October 15 in a new second edition. I wrote about the subject in my own book, Donor-Centered Planned Gift Marketing.

Recently, Greg Warner, CEO of MarketSmart, released his powerful new book that reveals a straightforward, meaningful way fundraisers can embrace the concept of donor-centered fundraising.

In Engagement Fundraising, Greg passionately reveals the 21^st century donor-centric strategy practiced by MarketSmart. Some people might be angered by or afraid of the core message of this book while others will find it to be simple common sense. However, one thing everyone can agree on is that Greg is a disrupter, and that’s a good thing. If it wasn’t for society’s disrupters, we’d still be riding around in horse-drawn carriages, and you’d be reading his book by candlelight. His fresh, technology-driven approach is a powerful way forward for those interested in engaging people to inspire more philanthropic support.

At the end of this post, I reveal how you can download, for free, the introduction and first chapter to Engagement Fundraising. But now, I want to share Greg’s additional insights with you as he outlines nine hard truths every fundraiser needs to face in the 21st century:

 

1.  Competition is fierce and everywhere. Nonprofits don’t only compete with other nonprofits. They also compete with private sector businesses and Uncle Sam (the tax collector) for every donor’s “share of wallet and attention.” Plus they want non-exclusive, polyamorous relationships with organizations. In other words, they will decide when they’ll cozy up to other charities. Of course, you can influence their decisions but you can never control them. You are at a disadvantage. Private sector companies and the government have deeper pockets. In order to win, you better be smart!

2.  Most of the time donors spend involving themselves with your organization happens without a fundraiser present. More than 99 percent of every donor’s time and energy spent involving themselves with your organization’s mission is done without you. You must accept this new reality and enable your supporters’ self-education and self-navigation of the decision-making process.

3.  The consideration continuum is open-ended. Donors are fickle. Their needs, passions, and interests will change. As they do, they might decide to give more, less, or stop giving altogether. They might involve themselves deeper in your cause or end their involvement (perhaps even by removing your organization from their estate plan). As a result, customer service (stewardship) is more essential now than ever.

4.  Your job is to make them feel good, not ask for money. In order to generate major gifts (including legacy gifts) and inspire high-capacity mid-level donors to give more, you must make your donors feel good by engaging them politely and persistently with offers that deliver value over time. If you do that, your donors self-solicit. They’ll step up to make a difference so they can find meaning in their lives. Then they’ll ask you, “What can I do to help?” Yes! Seriously! If you make them feel good, they will give, give more, refer friends, get more involved, become more committed, and make legacy gifts.