Copywriting

What makes a good fundraising story? Like a good movie, it’s not the challenge or threat, or the vision and end goal that provide the excitement, though they are essential ingredients. What provides the excitement is the journey; the tension of the underdog hero battling the villain and facing adversity; the uncertainty of not knowing if the hero will win; the emotional energy of wanting the hero to succeed. Even better, it’s the knowing that whether the hero wins or not is down to you.

Here’s a very smart, efficient way to present your fundraising appeal. It's called the "MPI" formula: how much money you want to raise, what project it will fund and what impact it will make. The formula works because it makes you define a concrete goal: Define the money (M) you seek. Define your project (P). Define the impact (I) it will make.

One of the hardest parts of fundraising copywriting is that, to be truly effective, you have to be a genuine advocate for your client or organization. That means you have to genuinely feel what you want your readers to feel.

In our new Question Marc column, a frustrated fundraiser asks, "Why didn't people respond to my year-end fundraising letter?"

What we write is designed to generate strong emotions. And it’s why we have to be certain that what we write takes readers into the world we want them to be in.

I wish I could tell you that somewhere out there is the perfect subject line, one that could send your open rates skyrocketing and make opt-outs and spam reports ancient history. But I can’t. I can tell you, however, that creating almost perfect subject lines for your nonprofit is possible

To do it, you first need to understand a few important things …

How do you break through the clutter? It matters all year but becomes more urgent during end-of-year giving campaigns when inboxes and mailboxes are full to the brim. I took the question to our in-house experts here at Blackbaud: the client success managers who work closely with our customers day in, day out.

Their advice? Tell a great story. Make it relevant. Make it easy to give. Be mindful of how your audience likes to receive information and how donors like to interact with you.

In the January 2010 issue of FundRaising Success, Jeff Brooks shared 25 tips for better fundraising copy.

Still stuck for subject lines for your year-end e-mails? The subject line is like the outer envelope for direct mail. It’s the window into your message. Make sure it’s wide open and gives a glimpse of something that grabs folks’ attention. Make it intriguing, urgent, exciting, compelling, emotional, shocking or funny. The more useful and specific it is the better.

While statistics can be interesting and even compelling at times, people are more likely to be moved by stories. When we do fundraising, we should use fewer statistics and tell more stories. When sharing stories: Use real stories, not composite or fictionalized accounts. Relate first-person stories when possible. Tell relevant stories that will help you achieve your objective. Do not be afraid of the length of the story; folks will stick with you if the story is compelling. Avoid being exploitative, and instead, use stories to demonstrate how your organization is fulfilling its mission.