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Fundraiser Asks: How Do I Tell Compelling Stories When Our Cause Has No “Happy Endings”?

Storytelling
Question from the inbox: Do you have any tips on storytelling when there is no happy ending? The disease that I fundraise for is terminal, aggressive, and traumatic. Every diagnosis is a death sentence, and the average life span from…
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Pop Art 2 Hearts flower

Fundraising Is about Love … and It’s Not Always Easy

Donor Psychology
Worried that your fundraising communications are promoting “saviorism”? You are not alone. In many sectors, fundraisers feel trapped between messaging that perpetuates harmful beliefs and practices … and messages that don’t effectively connect with donors. We brought together some fundraising…
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Pop Art Great

3 Temptations that Undermine Your Fundraising Storytelling, and How to Stop Them Cold

Storytelling
You already know this: Fundraising is built on storytelling. That’s because stories activate the human brain. There are countless types of information available to us – from spreadsheets to photographs – but it’s stories that help us understand, care, connect,…
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Pop Art Robot The Thinker

How AI Writing Can Defeat Your Best Projects … or Not

Writing
Artificial Intelligence invaded the members-only community of The Fundraisingology Lab on Facebook recently. Sean Triner posted a letter thanking members of our special community of fundraising professionals for their involvement and their work. What he didn’t say, at least at…
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Pop Are Love 1

Worried about “donor as hero” fundraising? Here’s another way to think about it

Writing
Trigger Warning: this post contains examples of fundraising that address child sex trafficking. Imagine this. As a smart fundraiser, you’ve put together a compelling appeal. It has an emotional story. A tangible offer. And direct asks in all the key…
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pop art camera photos images

The Right and Wrong Images for Ethical Fundraising

Values and Fundraising
Should a fundraiser raise funds by showing photos of people in need, in pain, or otherwise showing weakness? We’ve all seen photos of people (children, usually), often in the developing world, who show clear signs of malnutrition and/or disease: They…
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Pop Art typewriter

Fundraiser: Disobey Your English Teachers to Improve Your Writing

Writing
Before I found fundraising, I taught English. Mostly to first-year college students, usually some version of that English 101 course that you remember with either fondness or revulsion. We called it “writing,” but what we were teaching was “academic writing.”…
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Pop art story book

3 Elements of Every Effective Fundraising Story

Storytelling, Writing
There’s a lot of theory about storytelling out there. Some of it is very helpful for hardworking fundraisers like you. Here’s what Writer’s Digest says every story needs: Orientation: The beginning of a story must grab the reader’s attention. Crisis: Something…
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5 Proven Ways to Make Your Fundraising Life Easier

5 Proven Ways to Make Your Fundraising Life Easier

Productivity, Self-Care
Call me lazy. I prefer to call myself busy. Either way, I’m always looking for ways to make life easier. And you and I are in the same boat: We create fundraising messages, and it’s hard work.  Especially this time…
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Pop Art writer paper

5 More Winning Ways to Start Your Next Fundraising Appeal

Direct Mail, Writing
Lisa Sargent’s last post on this blog, 6 Winning Ways to Start Your Next Fundraising Appeal, was so popular, that we asked her to give you even more! Over to Lisa… The right lead on a fundraising letter is like…
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