Unicorns are Jerks!

It’s true. Even in the middle of a bitterly cold Indiana winter where the wind chill is as negative as the nightly news, it’s all rainbows and lollipops at the Community Foundation. We can’t help it; it’s our mission. We connect people who care with causes that matter like it’s our job—because it is! 

None of us are shy about sharing what we are blessed to do for a living. In a nutshell, we get to help the most generous people in our community learn how to make donations to help the most worthy organizations and people in our community...those are our rainbows and lollipops. But, the cold, hard, sparkly truth is this:  Wherever you find sunshine, rainbows, and lollipops you will also find unicorns.  And unicorns are jerks!

Here's how to use your left brain marketing methods and your right brain marketing moxie to tell your donors about the shiny and sharp side of your community’s unicorns.

Left Brain Marketing Methods:  No community is perfect, and your donors aren’t expecting everything you send them to tell a bright and shimmery story. Tell them the truth. Those unicorn horns are sharp and stabby, and use facts to make your case…they’ll appreciate it.

Right Brain Marketing Moxie: But with every sharp and stabby unicorn horn, there is also a hopeful rainbow, a picture you can paint of a brighter future with the help of your donors. Paint that picture. Use all the colors in the box of 64 Crayola’s with the build-in sharpener!

Let’s paint both pictures!  

Left Brain Marketing Methods:  While unicorns might be all the rage in fairytales, in reality the spiky horns extruding from their foreheads are sharp and they’ll get ya, if you’re not careful!  The majestic nature of their white flowing manes does seem harmless enough, but unicorns live in the wild; therefore, they cannot be trusted to be mild-mannered and tame.  Grant County, Indiana, where I live, discovered a unicorn in our midst in 2015.  It was one that had been gallivanting in our community for years, but its child poverty horn had become so sharp it couldn’t be ignored. 

In fact, if not tamed, the unicorns can use their sharp horns to wreak havoc and leave a path of destruction wherever they roam.  See what I mean? Even though unicorns think they’re all mysterious and whimsical, they can be real jerks sometimes. That poverty fact is not a fun one to tell, but you don’t get to pick your systemic issue. You also don’t get to unknow it. So, you have to address it head on—unicorn style. I love to do that with facts!

You can reduce unicorn-related injuries in Grant County and beyond by giving your donors the data they need to make a good decision. Whatever your issue, look up your most current data and teach your donors something they don’t likely already know.

We brought in an expert to speak about the physical impact poverty can have on the brains of children. This negative impact includes a 30-MILLION-word gap among children in poverty versus those who aren’t…by kindergarten. It’s mind-boggling to think about two 5-year-olds sitting next to each other in class…they probably play together at recess and call themselves best buds. But one of those students knows 30,000,000 more words than his BFF. These kids are alike in many ways:  innocent, being raised here, sitting in a tiny kindergarten chair, learning how to read. Then their paths diverge, slowly, but surely.

It starts small. One student identifies that B is for Bird; but his best friend recognizes that the right answer was really P for Pelican. Neither child did anything specifically wrong…or right. It’s socio-economic. One lives in poverty; one doesn’t. One went to preschool; one didn’t. The cost of preschool and the local waiting lists prevented both kids from having the same opportunity; one in which their brain architecture can thrive:  early learning in preschool. That’s not something we want for the 33% of our children living in poverty, but it’s also not something we want for our workforce 15 years from now.  Child poverty is a unicorn and he’s a jerk. 

Don’t be afraid to share your left brain facts and figures. Donors will appreciate your honesty and truly understand how dire the needs really are. A 30 MILLION WORD GAP is unreal. So, is a 33% child poverty rate. The graph paints a picture that you need donors to see and understand. You want them to take action; give them reason to do so. Left brain facts give plenty of compelling reasons to give.

Right Brian Marketing Moxie: As colorful as a unicorn, your future can be bright as well. Those left brain facts were brutal. So, paint that picture of what the new story could be if your donors step up to the plate. How can their actions change the trajectory of the two student BFF’s described above?

This is where I told a story of two local superheroes who don’t wear capes—but probably should. Superheroes who aren’t afraid of a challenge and have hearts the size of Texas. Both successful businessmen, in their own right; both wanted to figure out how to open up more preschool seats in the Grant County community so that the cost of preschool and the current waiting lists weren’t barriers to the opportunity of early learning. 

Both wanted those two BFF’s to have the same opportunities without the barriers of poverty coming between them. The passion of these local businessmen was palpable. So, when they learned that there was a $1 for $1 matching grant available to expand this Little Giants program that we had, they were determined to raise the $600,000 needed in matching dollars—in a mere 4 weeks! 

 
Was it crazy to think we could do this? Yes. Were we going to do it anyway? Also, yes.

The need was clear, phone calls were aplenty, meetings were held, donations were made…and the goal was met.  These two donors worked with us to call upon family, friends, and colleagues to tame this unicorn and provide opportunities for hundreds of Grant County kids to become Little Giants over the next two years. 

I look back fondly on those four weeks. They were a whirlwind, but one I hope everyone reading this gets to experience one day. A need added with a vision combined with the passion of generous donors equals an amazing success story. And this is just one example of what can happen when we accept the fact that unicorns with their pointy little horns exist in our world, but they don’t calls the shots. I do. You do. Generous donors do. And that, my friends, is the real cold, hard, sparkly truth that you need to be telling your donors to get them to act!

Unicorns are majestic but they’re also jerks—there’s two sides to every story, cause, and fundraising effort. That’s why your community needs you to do the work that you're doing with your donors to drive your economic engine. So, don’t just tell the story of their long, flowing mane. Tell them about that spiraled horn in the middle of their forehead and tame that beast together!

 All My Best,

Dawn
[email protected]
dawn brown creative, llc.