Introducing the Giving Compass: A New Lens for Fundraising
You know the classic line: “People don’t give to charities. People give to people.”
It’s true, but it’s also a bit obvious. What actually drives that giving? Why does one person reach for their wallet when another scrolls on by?
Most of the time, fundraising appeals end up orbiting around the same emotional tropes: pity, urgency, the slightly tired “just £5 could…” line. And sometimes that works. But increasingly, it feels like charities are fishing with a very small net in a very big emotional ocean.
So, what if we had a bigger, smarter map to navigate those waters?
Enter Campfire’s very own Giving Compass. It’s a simple but powerful framework built from nine deep emotional drivers - the stuff that really moves people to act: Empathy, Belonging, Justice, Hope, Legacy, Gratitude, Recognition, Urgency, Joy.
Think of them as creative needspaces. Each one is a doorway into why humans care enough to give.
Empathy & Compassion is the bread-and-butter tearjerker, the heartstring tug.
Justice & Fairness is the rallying cry, the “this isn’t right, and together we can fix it.”
Hope & Optimism reframes giving as an investment in possibility.
Typically, most charities default to just one or two of these spaces. But the opportunities also live in the others. Imagine a hospital charity that usually trades in gratitude suddenly stepping into hope and optimism. Or an environmental NGO shifting from urgency (“time is running out”) into legacy (“for everyone, forever”). Same cause. Whole new emotional territory.
And the beauty of the wheel is that it’s flexible. It connects neatly into Jungian archetypes (if you’re a storyteller) and Needscope emotional territories (if you’re a researcher). Which means fundraisers can use it at every stage, from big brand campaigns right down to the appeal letter that lands on someone’s doormat.
The point isn’t to pick a single “right” motivation. The point is to be deliberate. To know which door you’re opening, and to open it wide enough for people to walk through.
Because when you do, you don’t just get more effective campaigns. You get more human ones. Campaigns that don’t just raise money, but resonate, linger, and make people feel part of something bigger than themselves.
And that, in the end, is the business we’re in.
The Giving Compass is already shaping how we think about creative and strategic briefs across Campfire, helping clients find the emotional spaces their audiences haven’t yet explored.
If you’d like to see where your brand currently sits on the Compass, or how your next campaign could break new emotional ground, get in touch. Let’s make fundraising feel human again!