Creative

I recently came across the late Elmore Leonard's "10 Rules of Writing." Leonard was a novelist, most famously of crime fiction. But his rules apply surprisingly well to fundraising writing. Here are the first five, along with my annotations for fundraisers: Never open a book with weather. (Probably not a good idea for a fundraising…

The present political campaign season offers a number of lessons for the astute nonprofit fundraising professional. Although the heated and sometimes virulent rhetoric political campaigns employ may often seem out of bounds and incongruous with nonprofit charitable work, the strategies on which these campaigns rely for procuring financial support from donors are plainly effective...

Committee writing is a terrible thing: lifeless, drab, confusing, unmotivating. One place most often afflicted by committee writing: taglines. They're small and short—and a lot of people in the organization care about them. Every cook crowds into the kitchen, and the result is predictable: stew. And not the good kind. And committee-style stew-writing is so…

Conversations with a few clients have led me to believe that if you ask 10 different development professionals what makes a good appeal letter, you will get 10 different answers. What really makes a good appeal, though, is its ability to connect people to how they can make an impact in an area they care deeply about. Here's how you can write one that does just that...

We’ve all read those mission statements or fundraising appeals that seem to have smart ideas, but when you take a closer look you realize they just have a lot of words. Shorter is nearly always better. Replace these wordy phrases with their concise alternatives...

People ask me all the time what type of direct mail is most worth studying for ideas. Even before I mention whatever is being mailed in their industry, I recommend the Grand Controls. These are the best packages, the box office champions that have driven the most customer and donor response. A few weeks ago, I pored through my database of 1,672 of them to find the longest-running controls still in the mail today...

Instagram Stories create an extra layer of visibility for your nonprofit—whenever you want that visibility. Like Snapchat, Instagram Stories last for 24 hours. And like Snapchat, stories are told in a series of pictures and videos. Users who’ve published Instagram Stories within the past 24 hours appear at the very top of the home screen.…

Some things are not predictable and “Pokemon Go” falls into that category. Did your organization take advantage of any of the hype? Is your organization prepped to grab lightning in the future?...

I recently saw an old commercial with individuals singing on a hilltop for a cause and wondered how music was used for charity. In “When Music and Charity Collide,” Reason Digital made the case that it’s natural to use people’s love of music to do good. Here are six key points (and real-world examples) if you plan to use music for charity efforts, as specified by Reason Digital...

I’m seeing a trend in what I call “fact-sharing,” instead of sharing a story. To illustrate what I mean, I’ve got a some short audio clips to share with you. Listen and hear the difference between sharing facts and sharing words that cause people to feel something. Anything. What you cause others to feel isn’t…