Engage Conference Spotlight: 5 Ways to Get Personal and Get Relevant

On April 10, FundRaising Success is hosting its second annual Engage Conference. Engage is the only case-study-focused fundraising conference focusing on the keys to success from organizations that have successfully made the leap from just-getting-by nonprofits to powerhouse organizations. Leading up to Engage, we will be highlighting content from the participating organizations and speakers that we've published over the years.

Go to any fundraising conference, read any fundraising blog or just talk to any fundraising peers and you'll hear a familiar refrain: "Fundraising is all about relationships." And of course, that is absolutely true.

But what are the keys to building relationships? Well, two of them are personal connections and relevance. With that in mind, nonprofit fundraising strategist and trainer Nancy Schwartz, publisher of Getting Attention, shared "5 Ways to Get Relevant and Get Personal" with donors and supporters in the October 2013 issue of FundRaising Success. Her advice:

1. Include your name (or your organization’s spokesperson’s name) in your e-mail “from line” when you send bulk e-mails from your organization.
2. Make your own name more personal in your professional e-mail "from line."
3. Be yourself in the tone and style of your writing.
4. Share more of yourself than you currently do, in keeping with the culture of your organization and the preferences of your community.
5. Close your communications with a memorable goodbye, featuring your signature (a low-res graphic is easy to pull into e-mails or letters) and a photo when it makes sense.

Schwartz will facilitate the roundtables on melding marketing, branding and fundraising with City Harvest's Heather Wallace.

To learn more about the Engage Conference, click here. And to register, click here and enter the discount code: FSNews25