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Why the things you hate make good appeals

Why the things you hate make good appeals Ever seen an appeal you just hated? I mean, really hated? For most of my career, I’ve focused on annual giving – and especially on communicating with donors. I often open and look at the solicitations I receive. I usually have professional opinions on the appeals. But […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donor communications Tagged With: effective fundraising, fundraising appeals, writing for donors 1 Comment

Three steps you should take now to keep your donors this year

Three steps you can take to keep your donors I hope last month was a good month for you and your organization. It is for most. According to Neon, 31% of annual giving happens in December. 12% in the last three days of the year. So, with hope, I say “Congratulations!” And then: now what […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donor communications Tagged With: donor care, donor retention 2 Comments

How to Build Your Own Donor-Centric Fundraising Strategy

Bloomerang’s Mission Retainable Report found that when asked why they give more than once to the same organization, 63% of surveyed donors replied that the mission or nonprofit is important to them. Overwhelmingly, donors make contributions because they are passionate about your cause for their own personal reasons. By building your fundraising approach around donors, […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donor communications, Fundraising, Planning Tagged With: donor care, Fundraising Leave a Comment

Can we stop this in its tracks, please?

Okay, I admit it might already be too late. This nonsense is out there and may be growing in the wild. But if I can persuade you not to jump on this bandwagon, I’ll be very happy. What am I talking about? Appeals made to look like bills. Yup, instead of a warm and genuine […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donor communications, Donors Tagged With: appeal writing, donor communications, donor relationships Leave a Comment

Do you want to really connect? Show, don’t just tell me.

How do you connect with donors? Show more. Yes, this is one more post about the importance of emotion in your fundraising. This time, let’s look at images, not words. There is no faster way into our brains than an image. When we read, our brains recognize images as words. We’re constantly translating. (And remember […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donor communications Tagged With: appeal letters, appeal writing, emotional contagion, fundraising appeals, fundraising images 6 Comments

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