Copywriting

Are you starting to write your annual report? Do you want to know how to write a better letter from your director? What makes a good letter from a director in your annual report? Well, here’s a letter from the board chair in the first annual report I made, in 2007. Let’s take a critical look at it. Here’s a letter from the board chair in my first annual report.

You could use this as a fundraising copywriting checklist: This post at the Hilborn Blog, "Twenty things you should know before planning your next direct-response campaign," includes a very handy list: Components of a great letter.

• Make your appeal letter optically pleasing and inviting to read.
• Write small paragraphs and short sentences. Make use of image.
• Be conversational and informal.
• Feature an emotional story that personalizes your organization or cause.
• Thank your donor. Then thank the donor again. …

“Dear Bernard…”

I’ve been reading The Nation all my adult life. I’ve subscribed to it for 30 years. And I used to give a donation every month — but not anymore.

“Bernard, don’t let them win!”

Sorry. There are other progressive organizations. Hell, there are other progressive magazines. If I want to do my part to keep the right-wingers from stamping corporate logos on people’s minds, I can give my money elsewhere.

“Bernard, we want you back.”

Too bad. Because my name is not Bernard.

In "The Missing Middle" report on midlevel donor engagement, authors Alia McKee and Mark Rovner of Sea Change Strategies lay out six key points for creating a good content marketing strategy to engage midlevel supporters: deep substance, consistent narrative across all channels, major focus on stewardship, branded name, personal point of contact and reduced ask frequency.

I love this approach. In fact, let’s talk briefly about how your technology can help you do this.

Your job as a fundraiser is to be the outside force that puts your donor in motion, emotionally and physically, so he or she cares about your mission and cares enough to make a gift. Here are six ways to jump-start the process.

No matter how skillful we become, it’s a good idea to dust off these prewriting skills because sooner or later they’ll come in handy.

In order for any fundraiser's words to resonate with donors and compel them to take action, those words must feel genuine — which is to say they must feel and sound like the type of passionate speak people use when they converse with one another. In March 2008, Willis Turner, senior copywriter at Huntsinger & Jeffer, shared "The Watergate Guide to Straight Talk," in which he wrote: "The Watergate Transcripts became a template for the kind of 'real' writing I wanted to do."

At the DMA Nonprofit Federation's 2011 New York Nonprofit Conference, veteran fundraising consultant Tom Gaffny provided 10 timeless keys to fundraising success that he's crafted over the past two decades during his session, "The 10 Commandments: 10 Ageless, Irrefutable, Non-Negotiable Keys to Optimizing Your Fundraising Success."

In a webinar, "How to Write Moving Personal Profiles About Clients, Donors and Other Supporters," Kivi Leroux Miller, president of Nonprofit Marketing Guide, offered five steps on "The Ins and Outs of Writing Profiles":

You should avoid focusing on things your donor really doesn't have any interest in. With that in mind, here are "Three Things Your Donor Doesn't Give a Hoot About," from Willis Turner, senior copywriter at Huntsinger & Jeffer.