Have you ever stood in the Sistine Chapel and looked up at the ceiling in wonder? That’s how I feel about Seth Godin’s blog. 

He’s posted a thought-provoking insight every day, for over 6,000 days in a row. I’ve read most of them and there isn't much repetition. Like Michelangelo, his creative output is startling. 

It’s not just his blog, though. There’s so much more. If a person asks me, today, for a good book on digital marketing, I recommend Permission Marketing, a book Seth Godin wrote in 1999. It’s still the starting point. It’s still the thing you urgently need to get, if you haven’t read it already.

So this blog is something different. It’s more of a collection, than an article. A collection of Seth Godin’s brilliance applied to non-profits and fundraising.

I’ve scoured 20 years of material to put this together in the hope that it will get you interested in Seth Godin’s work.

• If you watch this video, I think you’ll be fascinated by how unusually insightful he is.

 

Here are Seth Godin's best quotes on Fundraising, with links to the blog posts they were taken from:

• Drip, drip, drip - “Who do you subscribe to? And who subscribes to you? Those simple questions determine what you know and what you learn. And they influence whether a business or a charity will succeed, and whether or not lives will be changed. Big hits are thrilling. Launch days, deadlines, the big win... That's easy to sign up for as a creator or marketer. But subscriptions are what work.”

• In defense of raising money - “People think that asking for money is all about asking for money. It is and it isn’t. Most of the time it is about inspiring someone to see the world the way you do – with the same understanding of the problems and the same vision of how it can be overcome – and convincing them that you and your organization can actually make that vision into a reality. The resources come second.”

• Non-profits have a charter to be innovators - "We're doing important work. Our funders count on us to be daring and bold and brave, because the work we're doing is too important to play it safe."

• Flipping the Funnel "Turn strangers into friends. Turn friends into donors. And then... do the most important job: Turn your donors into fundraisers."

• Slacktivism - “I think the goal needs to be that activism and action are not merely the right thing to do, but the expected, normal thing to do.”

• The Problem with Non - “A few years ago I met with two (very famous) non-profits to discuss permission marketing and online fundraising and how they might have an impact. After about forty five minutes, the meetings devolved into endless lists of why any change at all in the way things were was absolutely impossible... The work these groups do is too important (and the people who work for them are too talented) to waste this opportunity because you are paralyzed in fear.”

• Selling the benefits of charity - “Some people have figured out that charity is an incredible bargain. The scalable unique selling proposition is that being part of the community is worth more than it costs.”

I promise that if you click on some of these links, this man’s words will make you re-think the work you do… in the best possible way.

If you found this interesting and want a broader, more comprehensive view of digital fundraising, then download this eBook: