Heart and Head or Heart vs. Head?
Conventional wisdom. Best practices. The way it's always been done.
Every so often it's a good idea to dust off the things "everybody knows" and hold them up to the light, just to make sure they're still relevant and true.
For example, "everybody knows" that the best way to motivate donors is to appeal to both the heart and the head. You need to tell a powerful story to engage their emotions, and then show them some statistics to illustrate the need and give you credibility. It's only logical.
Willis Turner believes great writing has the power to change minds, save lives, and make people want to dance and sing. Willis is the creative director at Huntsinger & Jeffer. He worked as a lead writer and creative director in the traditional advertising world for more than 15 years before making the switch to fundraising 20 years ago. In his work with nonprofit organizations and associations, he has written thousands of appeals, renewals and acquisition communications for every medium. He creates direct-response campaigns, and collateral communications materials that get attention, tell powerful stories and persuade people to take action or make a donation.
