Creative

How are you sharing your stories? Through words, through photographs, through video? Think about the stories that inspire your donors and how you can share them more effectively.

This video takes a look at year-end mailings from Project HOPE and Habitat for Humanity. Be sure to join Project HOPE's Richard Rumsey at the NonProfit PRO Leadership Conference, which will be held in Washington, D.C. on May 5. Register today!

Of course you should craft your appeals to resonate with the majority of your readers. But you should always allow for the possibility that something great could come from the most unexpected donors.

Do fundraising writers get writer's block? Does every writer? All writers talk about it. Some play complicated psychological tricks on themselves to prime the pump when the well goes dry.

By far, the most frequently made mistake I see is when a worthy nonprofit assumes mission trumps all. It's mostly out of oversight, as nonprofit leadership is focused on doing good. However, sometimes it's because the organization really believes that donors are merely "funders"—the ATMs of the nonprofit world.

Writing fundraising copy should be detailed and painstaking for you. Reading it should be fast and easy for your donor.

To get a handle on what’s in store for 2015, NonProfit PRO rounded up some of the nonprofit industry’s finest, who were kind enough to share their nonprofit trends for 2015. Here are four trends on nonprofit messaging.

Writing fundraising copy takes concentration and focus. There are a lot of elements, strategic and creative, that have to be accounted for as you write. It takes up a lot of your headspace.

The 10 tips below are basic copywriting guidelines that will help you every time you write a fundraising letter, email or blog post.

I'm a firm believer that empathy has the potential to solve more problems than war and peace put together. From a more practical one, boosting your empathic ability could give your fundraising results a shot in the arm.