Copywriting

A charity that spends 20 percent on overhead and knocks its mission out of the ballpark is not less worthy of support than one that spends 10 percent on overhead but helps relatively few people. It’s one way of assessing things, but not necessarily the most meaningful...

Easing board members into fundraising can be a rewarding and fun process, especially if they focus on just telling stories. Last month on the blog, I shared three types of stories that nonprofit board members can tell. Once board members have stories in mind that they would like to tell, they may be wondering where…

Fundraising is a funny profession. It requires you to learn a specific style of writing that's unlike any other you're likely to have learned—business writing, journalism or grant writing, etc. But if you go to the trouble to learn the conventions of fundraising writing, donors will reward you with more gifts. Larger gifts. And they'll…

At the Bridge Conference last week, I had the opportunity to attend several breakout sessions. Like any conference, there were hits and misses, but I learned a few things, was reminded of many things and had some other things I was convinced of confirmed. So, all in all, it was a good investment of time and money...

Would you write to your mother like that? Open your last appeal, newsletter or email. Now read it out loud. Does it sound funny? Does it sound like you? If so, congratulations—you’re a step ahead of many. If not, let’s talk about what you can do to fix that. Good donor communications are not corporate…

If you want money coming in consistently throughout the year, you need a big, loyal donor base of people who love your mission and want to see you win. Once you build that donor base, your job is to engage and inspire them. Inspiration is about connecting with them on an emotional level. In practical…

Does your work in the nonprofit sector excite you? It should. Does it worry you? It should do that, too. NonprofitMarketingGuide.com’s “2016 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report” highlighted some of the big reasons why—from the positives, like embracing new opportunities and reaching more donors, to the negatives, like financial restrictions and unrealistic workloads...

How many emails did you wake up to this morning? If you’re like me, it was a lot. Dozens, maybe even 100 or more. But how many did you really read? Unfortunately, communication from nonprofit organizations—even those we support and really care about—can end up quickly deleted. There’s simply too much going on in our lives to treat every piece of communication equally...

Are you confusing your donors with a bureaucratic category that makes no sense and doesn't matter to them? You might be if you're raising funds under the flag of the foundation that's the fundraising arm of your main organization. There are plenty of reasons to organize yourself this way. But none of them are important…

It's never too early to analyze your last fundraising campaign and get ready for the next. Do you know how effective your direct mail appeal was during last year's holiday campaign? How many of your appeals went into the trash? How many resulted in a donation? Have you been afraid to even look at your…