There's a danger in being smart, experienced, seen-it-all fundraisers. It's too easy to project our own sophistication onto our readers. We think that because we can see through seemingly transparent persuasion techniques, our readers will too.
They could if they came to the message with a high degree of doubt. But most of the time, they are willing to suspend their skepticism because they want to believe.
It's say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. But you don't need to when the old ones work so well.
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- Creative

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.