Direct Response

If you're a fundraising copywriter, you already have most of the tools you need to go from good to great. The rest are available to you. All it takes to get them, and the persuasive power that goes with them, is a lot of hard work.

It's not the actual number that matters — it's the ability for a donor to feel like he or she can make a real difference.

"Help" means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. You use it often in your fundraising copy, but are you keenly aware of its nuances?

Are you ready for a huge spike in online gifts this month? I hope so! Because the money — and the donors — are out there.

You might think infomercials are corny and campy. Maybe so. But they’re also gems of direct response. Let’s take a look at the role the demo plays in an infomercial, and then we’ll see how to apply it to fundraising.

There's a lot of talk about the need for innovation in fundraising. As there should be. But before new ideas are introduced, we should make sure the old ideas from which they spring are true.

Check out the winners of the 2014 FundRaising Success Gold Awards for Fundraising Excellence Email (Less Than $10 Million) category from Guide Dogs for the Blind, NARAL and People for the American Way.

Every organization has a fundraising "tipping point." Most never actually reach it, but many find their revenue totals plateauing with miniscule increases from year to year.

Yes, your organization is small, your budget is smaller and your available time is the smallest yet. You want to grow so that this time next year, you have more supporters — and more money to accomplish the mission you are passionate about.

Here are 12 simple steps any organization can take right now to make their donors happy, boost their retention rates and create sustainable gifts year after year. These are the changes that matter. They are not complicated. They don't require a lot of decision making or processing. They don't even take a ton of time!