Jeff Brooks joins long-time friend and colleague, Kristine Poggioli to talk about writing great stories for fundraising — for direct mail, email, or any other medium. Kristine’s tips for fundraising stories that really do the job: Grab the reader’s attention…
I was in Uganda, gathering stories on behalf of a client. At that time, Uganda was Ground Zero of the AIDS epidemic. The disease had devastated parts of the country, killing nearly all adults under 60. The tranquil beauty of…
We don’t have any dramatic stories to tell! How can we tell great stories? We don’t work with babies or puppies! We have no way to be emotional. Have you heard or said things like this? It’s flat-out wrong. If…
Like many people, I spent much of my life believing my father was immortal. Then he told me a story that changed that. When dad was diagnosed with cancer, I knew he was going to beat it. The whole family…
Like many Americans, I have an inexplicable love for baseball. One of my favorite things about baseball is how the players watch the game. When they aren’t on the field, they line up along the fence between the dugout and…
How do you make sure that everything you write grabs the reader’s attention, engages them and makes something happen? After all, there is no point writing stuff that doesn’t have the desired outcome. Even if that outcome is to help…
Many charities shy away from the ‘bad’ their organisation tries to fix. This is not facing reality, not telling the truth and not giving people the opportunity to make bad good. Here is a cracking example from Concern Worldwide of…
By reading my articles, I guess you care about making the world a better place and raising more money for the causes you care about. I am chuffed by the feedback I get from my updates (please send more –…
Six years ago my mum helped me craft a little fundraising plan and story around my 40th birthday. The campaign was featured on SOFII, including the letter. Last week, mum was very ill so I got the next flight to…
