Copywriting

Writing a successful fundraising communication — be it an e-appeal, social media post, direct mail letter, personal letter, program copy or anything else — can feel daunting. Especially given the high rate of failure (since 100% response is rare), having to write the ask can seem like a pathway to failure.

A well executed case statement inspires donors to invest in your future. Here are tips to help you write a top-shelf case statement.

The sorry state of donor retention has been a topic of discussion for at least the past decade. Yet too many nonprofits still don’t prioritize donor retention strategies. A prompt, personal, powerful thank you is the bare minimum. What do you do to keep donors close?

Earlier this week, a copywriter friend of mine asked a great question. And I’m sure many of you are struggling with this same predicament. Often a strategy calls for including so many offers in one direct mail fundraising appeal, so how can you include a sustainer recruitment effort as well?

A copywriting colleague used to keep a folder he called, “The Graveyard of Good Ideas.” He filled it with half-thoughts, messy-concepts and opening lines he’d been in the middle of when he suddenly had to take an important phone call. Or respond to an email. Or stop because the boss stuck his head in the door and needed something urgently.

As much as we all dislike encounters with me-focused people, we can sometimes slip into the same kind of mindset when talking with our donors in our online and offline fundraising programs. The use of the word, “talking” is deliberate here because your communications should sound like a personal conversation you are having with your donor...

Our stories have to engage readers on such a powerful emotional level that when we transition from them to the ask, readers feel compelled to take an action or make a gift. Like a still-life painting or a well-written haiku, archetypal images set a scene for readers in just a few words...

We all know telling a good story engages readers and gets them emotionally involved so that they feel compelled to send a gift to your organization. But simply being advised to “tell a story” is pretty empty advice without some concrete guidance about what kind of story to tell and how to tell it.

The language we use to define people triggers automatic associations in our minds and influences the way we think and feel about them. If we are framing groups based on their deficits, our minds will only associate them with their deficits.

It’s probably the most common piece of wisdom people give to fundraising copywriters: “Tell a story.”