May 24, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
Charity officials can often learn a lot by watching how politicians handle solicitations and other communications with their constituents.
Katya Andresen in Katya’s Nonprofit Marketing Blog points to an idea she thinks nonprofit groups should emulate: a Food Stamp Challenge issued by the House Hunger Caucus.
The caucus invited members of Congress to live on $21 in food stamps for one week, just like the average food-stamp recipient.
The political challenge, notes Ms. Andresen, generated a lot of publicity for the lawmakers who participated — and helped them win attention to their efforts to get $4-billion added to the annual $33-billion the federal government spends on food stamps.
And they were deluged with comments from Americans, many of them food-stamp recipients, after creating a blog about their experience.
“If you have any idea that you are trying to convey, sometimes there is no better way than to put the policymaker or supporter through the experience…it may well be a transformative experience for them, as well as a way for you to help a broader audience imagine what it would be like to live a harder life,” writes Ms. Andresen
“Imagine if these lawmakers had just held a press conference instead. Yawn. Imagine if you canceled your next press conference and did something like this instead. Wow.”
Has your charity ever encouraged donors to experience first-hand the challenges of the people you serve? If so, was the effort successful? Click on the comments link just below this posting to share your experiences.
