Emotion plays a large part in drawing support to nonprofit organizations. Often the cause supported by the nonprofit is a large one so the tendency is to let people know how large this problem is in hopes to invoke a sense of urgency and a need to act now. The problem with this is that human nature does not like to deal with massive challenges, these tend to get avoided. When we focus on the catastrophic, the one gets lost in the many. Donors as individuals or organizations might then choose to find a cause where the perception is that the impact is more immediate and noticeable.
At the same time, when we can pick out a smaller portion of the challenge to tackle, when we see that our efforts will attain some portion of success we become more motivated to assist. When the focus can be on the individual the response is greater. It invokes the desired emotion with a sense that every contribution is having a direct impact on an individual.
This is not suggesting that the larger problem is to be avoided, rather it needs to be approached while keeping the individual in focus.