I'm in an article in the Globe and Mail

[Hope123]

Just FYI, there is actual research on this stuff -- whether presenting facts and figures v. presenting human interest stories would compel more people to donate (or be more interested, etc.) and the winner was...........................presenting human interest stories.

I have a friend in the nonprofit world that does fundraising; there have been studies where they presented groups with facts like "Donate $XX and save YY people a day from life-threatening diarrhea" vs. 'Donate $X and save Anna (pic of child with her story) from life-threatening diarrhea." This isn't to say that *everyone* will respond the same way but the majority of people tend to like human interest stories more than facts. I am more a facts person myself but recognize not everyone is the same way. Having donated time/money to charities, I know they use both methods - facts and stories to cover all bases.

I should also mention that when the campaigns came out initially for illnesses like those you cited (MS, muscular dystrophy, etc.), we knew much less about those illnesses at the time but people could see the devastation physically in people. CFS doesn't have the same amount of easily observable devastation and those who do suffer severely aren't often able to have the wherewithal to do media stories but for those who do (or even those who have less illness severity but recognize it can be very severe), I applaud them.

 

[Jody]

To those who have been addressing their encouraging comments to me in this thread, I want to say thank you, I appreciate them. Just wanted you to know, I am reading them.

 

[*GG*]

To those who have been addressing their encouraging comments to me in this thread, I want to say thank you, I appreciate them. Just wanted you to know, I am reading them.

Thank you Jody for putting yourself out there!

GG

 

[Jody]

Hey GG,

Nice to hear from you.

 

[ixchelkali]

I should also mention that when the campaigns came out initially for illnesses like those you cited (MS, muscular dystrophy, etc.), we knew much less about those illnesses at the time but people could see the devastation physically in people. CFS doesn't have the same amount of easily observable devastation and those who do suffer severely aren't often able to have the wherewithal to do media stories but for those who do (or even those who have less illness severity but recognize it can be very severe), I applaud them.

Yes, don't you sometimes wish that ME/CFS caused purple spots on our faces? I think we'd be further along if it did.