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Pop Art Theatrical masks Happy Sad

How to Balance Doom & Gloom with Happy and Hopeful in Your Fundraising Appeals

Donor Love, Writing
Here’s an important appeal-writing question from fundraiser Miriam: “All the fundraising appeal trainings I’ve attended say the best appeals talk about an immediate need, and the more dire it is, the better. That tenet goes against all our messaging, which…
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Pop Art Personalised Experience

Want More Fundraising Revenue? Give Donors a Personalised Experience!

Direct Mail, Writing
You’re at a party with people chatting all around you. You can’t hear specific conversations.  But then something happens: your name is mentioned.  Instantly, your attention is captured!* Your brain has an amazing ability. It sifts and sorts through millions…
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How to Keep Writing When You’re on Empty

Creativity, Writing
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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Pop Art Fundraising Gold e1571122650180

One Rule That Can Turn Your Fundraising to Gold

Writing
“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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Pop Art Mail with Wings

26 Tips for More Effective Fundraising Writing

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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3 Last-Minute Tweaks for Your End-of-Year Campaign

Direct Mail
Tweak: a fine adjustment to a mechanism or system Here are some fine adjustments you can do that can meaningfully improve your upcoming year-end campaign. Tweak One Make a direct ask. As in “Fiona, will you please make a donation…
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9 Truths about Fundraising I Wish I Had Figured Out Sooner

9 Truths about Fundraising I Wish I Had Figured Out Sooner

Fundraising
One of the more disturbing things about spending decades in a career is looking back and remembering how incredibly wrong you used to be! So I’m going to give you a quick tour of some ways I used to be…
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Arts and Culture Fundraising: the Story to Tell When Nobody Is Dying

Storytelling
The standard formula for a fundraising message goes like this: Something is not right. It needs to be changed, or somebody might suffer in some terrible way — maybe even die. By making a donation now, you can save a…
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Denis Mukwege par Claude Truong Ngoc novembre 2014 e1555536853306

Nobel Prize Winner Demonstrates the Power of Story

Storytelling
Denis Mukwege, 2018 co-winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, used his Nobel address to masterfully tell stories about his work with survivors of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The main story he tells is a harrowing…
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Controversial non-Controversy

The Most Controversial Non-Controversy in the Fundraising World

Direct Mail
Want to stir up a group of professionals? Want to see them sweat and wave their arms and cuss? There’s one issue that will do it every time. I’m not talking about “poverty porn,” and it’s not the overhead controversy.…
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