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Do you want to reach more donors? Open your heart

My plea for emotional copywriting Successful fundraising is about reaching people where they make decisions… and that’s their hearts, not their heads. Emotional copywriting is effective copywriting. Writing to donors means using emotional copywriting. Yes, there are some “tricks” you can use to improve your appeal. Simple things, like better formatting. I’ve mentioned some ways you […]

Filed Under: Donor communications Tagged With: donor-centered fundraising, emotional appeal, fundraising appeal 11 Comments

Fundraising appeals: think before you write

So you’re ready to write a fundraising appeal. Now what? Before you even begin to write your appeal, there are some things you should think about. What’s the ONE thing you’ll ask a reader to do? Too often, we use a fundraising appeal as a catch-all for everything we want to tell people. This is […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donor communications Tagged With: appeal writing, donor communications, fundraising appeal 1 Comment

How you can save your appeal

Everybody has an opinion about your appeal. Not every opinion should matter. I’m a fundraising copywriter. Case statements, email appeals, and especially mail appeals. I love it. It’s one of my favorite things to do. But over the years, I’ve also noticed I get the same questions. You too? Maybe I can help you head a […]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: donor communications, fundraising appeal Leave a Comment

Fundraisers: use stories, not statistics

The human mind is a wanderer by nature. The daydream is the mind’s default state. Jonathan Gottschall What do you like to read? I read a scary book recently. Dystopic, feminist, infuriating. And compelling. (Gather the Daughters, by Jennie Melamed) But it did what I look to fiction to do. It took me away, to […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donor communications Tagged With: donor communications, fundraising appeal, storytelling 7 Comments

Watch your weenie words

I call them weenie words. Hedges. Qualifiers. And I don’t like them. Now, I don’t think of myself as a bold person. As a kid, I was an eager follower, not the leader. I do more listening than talking, content to let someone else lead the conversation. I’m cautious. I don’t make fast decisions. But […]

Filed Under: Blog, Donor communications Tagged With: donor communications, fundraising appeal, thank you 2 Comments

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