“With the economy currently in crisis, your support is needed more than ever.”

If you haven’t read these words, you probably will. Every organization is feeling stressed by the economy, wondering how they will make their budgets in these tough times. And because everyone is feeling it, it makes sense to talk about it, right? We should remind people that it’s particularly important in a tough economy to support us, right?

Wrong!

M+R Strategic Services has done some important research with their client testing language about the economy.

Here’s the money quote:

What are other nonprofits doing to stay the course? One M+R client recently tested two versions of a special appeal: One simply stated the need for funds for many reasons, but did not make mention of global financial crisis. The other appeal led with a brief sentence stating that the current global financial crisis has made the need even greater. Both email messages had identical open rates, but the email with the mention of the financial crisis received 20% fewer click-throughs, and a 12% lower response rate than the email that did not. The lesson learned? Reminding your constituents of the current economic crisis, even when it is topical and strengthens your case for giving, does not make donors more likely to give, and may actually turn them away from giving.

Link [M+R Strategic Services Report]