Creative

In the 1990s, a Seattle fundraising shop called the Domain Group took the garden-variety donor newsletter, stripped it down to its components and began testing to see if it could come up with something better. Sort of like rebuilding a hot rod. Domain eventually developed a formula that made a donor newsletter highly worth doing: Some Domain clients began raking in more gifts through their newsletters than through their direct-mail appeals.

How exactly can nonprofits break free of the rut and steer their efforts in the right direction? Recognizing some of the key fundraising mistakes and understanding how to correct them can be a great starting point. Here are nine of them: the underinvested fundraising operation, not setting lofty goals, not being interesting enough, putting all your eggs in one basket, emergency fundraising, failure to cultivate long-term relationships, trying to be the next big thing, you are not your target audience and not implementing a donor-friendly mobile payment system.

Most copywriters maintain a "swipe file," a collection of direct-mail packages, emails, print ads, even magazine articles and books we use to generate new ideas. I recommend we also maintain a "fail file" so we can not only remember past mistakes, but understand them.

Here are three ways to make sure your fundraising appeal stays on-message for maximum impact and response.

Remember that you're sending engagement communications to donors. Your most important job is to keep them motivated to donate.

Connecting with your audience is harder than ever. How do you cut through the noise? How do you get donors to donate and supporters to take action? You make your messages relevant. Empathy Maps are powerful tools that help you reframe how you can connect with your audience.

The Empathy Map, developed by information design consultancy EXPLANE, helps you develop a better understanding of the environment, behavior, concerns and aspirations that affect your supporters. This understanding helps shape your communications with them so you can drive them to take the action.

What is it about your organization that sets it apart from all the others? How can you show donors and potential donors that you are unique — even irreplaceable because you are doing something that no one else is doing? If you can’t show why you are different from everyone else, you’re going to have a hard time proving that someone should donate to you instead of another organization that does what seems to be the same thing.

Nancy Schwartz, publisher of Getting Attention, shared "5 Ways to Get Relevant and Get Personal" with donors and supporters in the October 2013 issue of FundRaising Success.

The only grammar rule that matters in fundraising copy is to make your message unambiguous and moving. Communicating information is only part of our goal. We must communicate emotions. Anytime you have to choose between an informational word and an emotional one, don't aim for the head — aim for the heart. That's where the real decisions are made.

After the call to action, the element of a direct-mail piece that matters most for response is the outer envelope. If you want to move the needle in direct-mail response, test changes to the envelope.

Here's something to consider when you're thinking about that envelope: copy and design are not the only elements you can work with. The envelope is a physical object, and you can change the physical properties of it, and that can be a very effective way to improve your fundraising results.