How to Keep Writing When You’re on Empty
NOTE: This blog post was written during — and is about — normal times. Now is not a normal time. There are a number of suggestions below — like “sneak out to a movie” and “do your work in a…
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One Rule That Can Turn Your Fundraising to Gold
“This is why people should give!” the new executive director said. He dramatically threw a newspaper on the table, leaned back, and glowered at everyone sitting around the conference room. The newspaper was folded open to A13. Near the bottom…
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2 Truths Your Donors Wish You Understood about Direct Mail
I am a Gen Xer. I am not the core target market for direct mail. In my early twenties I had to learn two lessons quickly in order to do my job as a Fundraising Appeal Manager. Lesson one: The…
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26 Tips for More Effective Fundraising Writing
1. Write the call to action (the reply device or landing page) first It’s very un-Zen to say it, but fundraising is more about the destination than the journey. You’re going to arrive a lot more successfully when you know…
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How to Write Like a Nonprofit Genius and Motivate People to Join Your Cause
Once upon a time, I was an English teacher. A guardian and promoter of our written language in its formal academic form. Please accept my apology for the damage I did during those years. I worked hard to teach my…
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How to Prevent the Heartbreak of Boring Fundraising
If you think you’re boring your audience, go slower not faster. – Gustav Mahler (20th century Austrian composer) When I come across really boring fundraising copy, I think two things: The writer was rushed. And she doesn’t seem to care.…
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Save the Snails Hyper-Personalisation In Action
Hyper-personalisation is a phrase coined by fundraising author Mal Warwick. He used it to describe going well beyond normal personalisation in direct marketing. It is all about asking donors questions and reflecting their answers back to them. Using this technique…
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