Lance Amstrong Foundation

Attendees at my two-day “Secrets of Copywriting” seminar at the DMA 2006 Annual Conference in San Francisco last week brought samples for a critique. And almost every sample from the fundraising sector — and virtually every appeal I receive — has the same problem. I mean that literally: They all look the same. And I’m not even talking about the free address labels and note cards. Please don’t think me callous when I say typically, there’s a lovable dog to save, a needy child to support, a desperate disease or disaster victim to rescue … along with formulaic copy such as: “We do important

Development at the Lance Armstrong Foundation embodies seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong’s demon drive to empower cancer survivors.

 Face it … life is not a Bob Hope movie. And just as a family of adorable tots can’t really make it in show business anymore by punching the air and yelling, “Let’s put on a show,” gone too are the days of, “Let’s have a catalog!” in the not-for-profit world. Having a merchandising program is one way for many nonprofits to raise unrestricted funds and to reach donors and prospects at a time when their mailboxes — both physical and virtual — are crammed with

You don’t have to be a cyclist to know who Lance Armstrong is and what he’s accomplished. The seven-time Tour de France winner and survivor of testicular cancer is a mainstay in the media — whether he’ll compete for his eighth Tour de France win next year; his recent engagement to singer/songwriter Sheryl Crow; or his organization, the Austin, Texas-based Lance Armstrong Foundation, which raises funds to fight cancer through education, advocacy, and public health and research programs.

M.J. Dunion knew she had a mess to clean up six years ago when she was hired as director of development operations at Boston Medical Center, formed when a private academic medical institution and a city hospital merged. Her main task was to combine several departments that had been using different databases in fundraising efforts. She knew this largely was a matter of using the right technology as efficiently as possible.