Copywriting

I’ve been working with a number of nonprofits recently to help them raise more money through their fundraising letters and annual appeals. Here are four tips you can use to raise more money from your next fundraising mailing: 1. Directly show the impact a donation will make on the world. 2. Focus on both immediate gifts and lifetime donor value. 3. Measure ROI, not cost. 4. Time  your mail drops prudently.

At their core, all fundraising and marketing efforts involve telling stories. Storytelling is the best way to build relationships, cultivate donors and raise money. This is because emotion, not rational analysis, causes people to take action. Make sure your nonprofit is not making these nine common storytelling mistakes: over-reliance on data, no compelling visual, no clear reason, no context, no protagonist, thinking that slick video production equals a great story, "silo-ing" the storytellers, focusing on the tools and thinking it's a one-time deal.

When you write a fundraising appeal, thank-you letter or newsletter article, are you throwing in terms like at-risk youth and underserved communities? The problem with those terms is they're broad and often meaningless.

Here's an example from a thank-you letter I received from a social-services agency. "As you already know, X organization serves individuals who are often the most disenfranchised members of their communities." Yikes! What does that mean?

Email marketers have another tool to grab subscribers' attention: preheader text. Here are nine ways to customize preheader text that will invite readers to open up your email and stay awhile: 1. Tease the content of your email. 2. Provide a strong call to action. 3. Elaborate on the subject line. 4. Write a personal message. 5. Give an incentive to open. 6. Repeating yourself is repetitive. 7. Keep it short. 8. A/B test. 9. Include an emoji.

Imagine for a minute that you’re remodeling your bathroom. You’re looking for something new and different. Something exciting! So you ask your contractor to be really creative. You expand the budget, you extend your timeline and the big day finally arrives. You walk into your gorgeous new bathroom, only to find that there is no toilet.

Sounds ridiculous, right? But in so many ways this is what happens in the direct-response fundraising world every single day. In our quest for new, exciting and creative, we can sometimes lose track of the goal.

As a savvy nonprofit professional, you understand that effective storytelling is one of the most important ways to raise money and grow support for your cause. However, there are certain challenges that some nonprofits face when collecting and disseminating stories about their organizations.

I have detailed the three most common challenges that nonprofits face in storytelling, along with my suggested solutions.

Many nonprofits view the thank-you letter as no more than a tax receipt. Smart nonprofits, however, recognize the donor acknowledgment letter as a critical component of the stewardship phase of the fundraising life cycle. A well-written letter not only expresses gratitude, but can serve as an opportunity to create an even greater affinity and appreciation for your organization’s mission. Here we address the components of a great donor thank-you letter.

Do your donors think rationally when they give a gift? At the start of this video, you’ll be asked a question by Jeff Brooks, creative director at TrueSense Marketing. The question is about making a gift. My guess is, just like your donors, you’ll probably get the answer wrong.

As the rest of the video unfolds, you’ll have a better understanding of what you’ll need to focus on when putting your message or story together.

Are you starting to write your annual report? Do you want to know how to write a better letter from your director? What makes a good letter from a director in your annual report? Well, here’s a letter from the board chair in the first annual report I made, in 2007. Let’s take a critical look at it. Here’s a letter from the board chair in my first annual report.

“Dear Bernard…”

I’ve been reading The Nation all my adult life. I’ve subscribed to it for 30 years. And I used to give a donation every month — but not anymore.

“Bernard, don’t let them win!”

Sorry. There are other progressive organizations. Hell, there are other progressive magazines. If I want to do my part to keep the right-wingers from stamping corporate logos on people’s minds, I can give my money elsewhere.

“Bernard, we want you back.”

Too bad. Because my name is not Bernard.