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I am more than my checkbook

I am more than my checkbook. Do your donors feel that way? And does a well-written appeal really matter? In the rush to get something, anything, out the door on time, does it really matter how good it is? Judging from my mailbox, many charities – even large ones – don’t seem to think so. […]

Filed Under: Annual Giving, Blog, Donor communications Tagged With: appeal writing, donor-focused 11 Comments

Money, time and attention poverty

What’s your attention worth? I read an interesting article a while ago in the New York Times. Titled No Money, No Time, it was about different kinds of poverty. You probably think about financial poverty, but maybe like me, you hadn’t thought as much about time and mental bandwidth poverty. If you suffer from one type of poverty, […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donor communications Tagged With: appeal writing, copy-writing, donor appeals, donor-focused 6 Comments

Check your we

Are your donor communications focused on your organization or your donors? I opened a piece of mail the other day. It was from an organization we’ve supported – one that does good work, important work. But here’s what jumped out at me right away about this short piece. It was ALL about them. I couldn’t help […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donor communications Tagged With: appeal writing, direct mail, donor appeals, donor-focused 8 Comments

Are you a nag?

Don’t nag your donors No one likes a nag. Recently, a friend shared a letter with me that she’d sent to an organization she really cares about. I thought what she had to say was so important I asked her to share it. She generously agreed. We usually make assumptions about what donors think, but we […]

Filed Under: Annual Giving, Blog, Donor communications Tagged With: donor retention, donor-focused, Fundraising 9 Comments

Put it in writing

It’s fun when something you should do is also something you enjoy doing. I’ve grown to truly enjoy sending hand-written thanks (and other notes) to our donors. It’s partly the challenge. For instance, after the end of the year, I had more than 70 in a backlog. That was one marathon note-writing session! But I […]

Filed Under: Annual Giving, Blog, Donor communications, Thanks Tagged With: appeal writing, donor relations, donor-focused, thank you letters, thank you notes, writing for donors 4 Comments

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