The 4 Pillars of Persuasion

How do you write a review of a masterful book on writing without feeling inadequate to the task of doing it justice? If you have an answer, I’m all ears.

Frank O’Brien is a larger-than-life presence in nonprofit fundraising. He’s a master of the craft, a mentor to thousands, a generous teacher, and a powerful writer. I always leave my occasional lunches with Frank feeling inspired and maybe a bit smarter.

And now, Frank’s decades of experience, wisdom, and generosity are available in book form. The 4 Pillars of Persuasion: How Smart Nonprofits Attract Attention, Build Trust, and Drive Impact is a master class in effective fundraising communications. Actually, it’s four master classes. As a long-time communicator, if I could keep only one book on the subject, this would be it.

Each of Frank’s four Pillars (Attention, Audience, Emotion, and Craft) is replete with first principles, concrete examples, memorable war stories, and what Frank calls Persuasion Pivots: “the moves you can make to go from communications efforts that ‘miss the mark’ to ones that really break through.” The Pivots are useful, provocative,  and sometimes humbling.

One in the Audience Pillar hit close to home. Frank urges a pivot from “Framing your request as asking an audience to do something” to “Presenting the action you’re proposing as a way for your audience to express and affirm their personal identity.” Too often Alia and I have seen organizations obsess over benefits or how to describe their mission, when what they really need is to deeply understand what makes their audience tick.

At a recent fundraising conference, Michael Thatcher, president of the nonprofit watchdog Charity Navigator, put it more bluntly: “Your donors don’t care about your organization. They care about themselves.”

Another Pivot that landed hard was in the Emotion Pillar: moving from “Thinking your audience always makes careful, considered decisions” to “Recognizing that, more often than not, people make decisions in a far more casual way, grounded in emotion.” Science has long established that emotion drives nearly every choice we make, but too many nonprofit leaders haven’t gotten the memo. All too often, a senior executive edits the personality out of a fundraising appeal, with predictable results. Maybe Frank should release the Emotion Pillar as a standalone paper and send it to every nonprofit C-suite.

You’re not just getting Frank in these master classes; you’re getting a whole host of guest speakers. He introduces a range of voices, drawing lessons from screenwriters like Shonda Rhimes and Aaron Sorkin, fiction writers like Amy Tan, and social scientists like Robert Cialdini. He closes with a chapter introducing 17 “top persuasion thought leaders,” further proof of Frank’s generosity of spirit.

Chances are you have already benefited from Frank O’Brien’s wisdom. His mastery of fundraising, communications, and strategy has profoundly influenced three generations of nonprofit professionals.

On a personal note, as a fellow Baby Boomer, I am inspired by how Frank’s book and his still-evolving career remind us there is no expiration date on the value you can bring to a discipline you care about.

So, back to my opening question. I’m still not sure how to do this book justice, but I do know how to recommend it: read it, then keep it within reach.

P.S. You can also sign up for Frank’s free weekly emails, often loaded with “ripped from the headlines” advice and more mini-tutorials for turbocharging your messages.