You don’t want to be that guy Imagine someone coming to your door. You open it and hear: Hey babe! Here’s why you want to go out with me. First, I’m a great person. Just last year, I was listed as one of the 40 greatest guys under 60. In fact, I’m 24% better than […]
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. […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]