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5 reasons to ditch your annual appeal

5 reasons to ditch your annual appeal… and ask more often Are you still depending on an annual appeal – a single annual solicitation – for your individual giving program? Many smaller organizations are. But if you’re one of them, you ought to reconsider. Here’s why. 1. You need money all year round To accomplish […]

Filed Under: Annual Giving, Blog, Planning Tagged With: annual appeal, donor communications, fundraising plans

How you can appeal like a Girl Scout

Girl Scouts have a great product. Do you? Sure, your organization probably doesn’t sell Girl Scout Cookies. But those cookies didn’t become wildly popular in a vacuum. They’re good. Really good. And they’re special because you can’t just find them on the store shelves. So think about: What is your organization really, really good at? […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donor communications, Thanks Tagged With: appeal writing, donor communications, donor relationships

You can do better

You can do better than the appeal we recently received at home. Really! And you probably do already. This was a cold appeal. And they’re definitely harder to craft. You don’t know the audience as well, for one thing. This appeal was also from a large, well-known organization. Sigh. And it’s mostly a brag-fest. They […]

Filed Under: Blog, Fundraising Tagged With: appeal writing, donor communications, Fundraising

4 Ways to Turn One-Time Donors Into Long-Term Supporters

You’ve just wrapped up a successful fundraising campaign. The donations are in, the thank-yous are sent, and the team is celebrating a job well done. But what happens to all those new names on your donor list? Converting one-time donors into long-term supporters is a vital step toward building a sustainable funding base for your […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donor communications, Donor retention Tagged With: donor communications, donor retention

12 human quirks you can use to fundraise better

We humans are quirky. You know fundraising is never as simple as asking for donations. Behind your ask is a world of study. We think about our language. We consider exactly what we’re asking for and why. And we keep the language clear and simple. We’re straightforward about the need and use stories to illustrate […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donor communications, Fundraising Tagged With: donor communications, Fundraising, neuropsychology

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