Last week, I wrote about your fundraising appeal and offered some steps to improve it. This week, with part two, we’ll pick up where we left off. Here’s what I want to share in both posts: Where to start The critical role emotion plays – and how to use it How to grab attention right […]
How to build a better appeal
Let’s be blunt: most fundraising appeals are well-meaning, but crap. Stuffy. Officious. Impersonal. Focused on the organization’s needs, not the donor’s dreams. The good news is you can start fixing that today, and I’ll show you how. This week and next, we’ll cover: Where to start The critical role emotion plays – and how to […]
Do you like me? You like me!
Let me ask you something: do you really like your donors? I don’t mean as a group or as an idea. I mean as people. Do you like them? I recently read an article by Roger Dooley at Neuromarketing. He was writing, as he often does, about Robert Cialdini and his findings about sales. Your instinct […]
Is our donor-focus hurting or helping our nonprofits?
Or, why donor focus might not mean what you think it means. Vu Le of Nonprofit AF recently wrote a long, very thoughtful piece about donor-centrism. He hoped it would generate conversation – and I hope so, too. Vu is an amazing dynamo who is making change happen, not just in his organization, but across […]
Are you too pretty to work?
Have you gotten a really beautiful appeal recently? It could be an email, or it could be a fancy direct mail package. I have to wonder at their effectiveness. So many are pretty to look at, but not moving. And that’s a big problem. Shiny postcards on heavy paper. Four color imagery and brand-specific fonts. Reverse type […]