What I say when a donor asks where their money went
Hi Reader, The first time a donor asked me this, I felt like I needed to play defense. I started in on overhead ratios and program allocation, and I watched her lose interest in real time. It wasn't an accusation. She was interested! She wanted to know if her money mattered, and I answered her with a pie chart. Here's what I say now. A specific number. Not a percentage. "Your $500 helped cover three months of transportation for two families." Donors don't think in percentages. They think in things that happened. A specific outcome. What was different because of it? Both families made it to every medical appointment. That's the whole sentence. It takes ten seconds and it's the part they'll repeat to someone else at dinner. A specific person. One name, one detail, permission granted. Not a composite, not a statistic. A donor can hold one person in their head. They cannot hold four hundred. Then I stop talking. The instinct is to keep going: explain the model, justify the salaries, defend the overhead. I'd resist it. If they want the financials they'll ask, and then you send them gladly and without a speech. One more thing worth naming: the donors who ask this question are usually your best ones. Someone who has mentally checked out doesn't bother asking! Treat it as a sign they're paying attention, and answer like you're glad they did. And of course, you can always use the free Donor Impact Report to have this designed in Canva in a matter of minutes! Cheers,
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