You are expected to use some of the six principles of persuasion (reciprocity, scarcity, authority, consistency, liking, and consensus or social validation) when drafting your persuasive pitch to Mrs. Gonzales; use as many as you can, but a minimum of three (3). IMPORTANT: do not identify which of the principles you used, because your classmate will have to guess. After you’ve written your pitch, then consider whether you ethically used the six principles to persuade her (remember, we want persuasion and not manipulation).
Scenario and Targeted Audience for Funding Pitch:
- Applying the persuasive strategies we discussed, write a funding pitch for a non-profit project requesting a $100,000 donation from the potential donor listed below.
- Your purpose is two-fold: (1) come up with an original, marketable, and innovative project that is easily understood by the donor, and, most importantly, (2) persuade your donor to give you funding and that your cause is truly worthy of her support.
Length: Your pitch should be 250 – 500 words and should be written as a script you’d be presenting to the potential donor.
Donor Profile:
Name: Mrs. Annette Gonzalez
Marital Status: married, 3 children
Profession: retired business owner and luxury realtor (real estate)
Husband: retired owner of sunglass business
Businesses: import/export of Chinese manufactured small parts for factories
Family Info: husband is being treated for leukemia
Children: Daniela (18, Business major, attends GMU); Emma (24, medical school, attends UPenn); Frank (26, attorney)
Place of Residence: La Gorce Island, Miami Beach & other investment properties
Interests: diverse populations, global causes, technology, education, business, high achieving students
Hobbies: traveling, writing, attending art fairs and film festivals, entertaining at home, and dining out
PART 2
You should be writing responses as if you were asking for a salary increase and your boss just told you no, based on the provided excuses mentioned below.
- “Unfortunately, we can’t afford to pay more in this economy.”
- “We have a standard process for determining who makes what, and this is the number we came up with (for you).”
- Additional (and sadly very real) excuse given the current situation: “Considering the global health crisis that’s going on, we can’t pay you more. In fact, consider yourself lucky to have a job.”
