Jargon is the Bane of Fundraising

Looking at the stack of mail I've accumulated over the last few weeks, I'm surprised how often jargon slips into copy. We don't want to "dumb down" our copy (although some of our colleagues may suggest that's our goal), so we overlook the fact that many of the people reading the e-mail, newsletter or direct-mail letter haven't thought a great deal about us since they read our last communication. (And that may have been much longer ago than when we last sent something to them.)