Creative

Successful donor newsletters include offers in every issue for three reasons: Offers help strengthen your bond with that fraction of donors (10 percent to 30 percent, maybe more?) who are "truly true believers" and might want to become more involved. Offers create a feedback channel so donors can tell you how much they like you. Offers can seriously boost philanthropic revenue. Not every donor supports you just once annually. Some will make multiple gifts a year, but you have to ask, in your newsletter.

When it comes to direct-mail and email copy intended to raise money for a nonprofit, adding a camel to the fundraising team is dangerous. In other words, the more people who edit the copy, the less likely it is that the end product will accomplish the original intent. There are three “camels” fundraisers should avoid when possible — and when that’s impossible, at a minimum go on record as being opposed to.

It’s no secret that nonprofit marketing trends have shifted within the past few years. Technology has advanced, online fundraising has grown and the way donors like to interact with nonprofits has evolved. As these changes occur, it’s become increasingly important for organizations to be mindful of how supporters want to be engaged. With that said, here’s a roundup of three major nonprofit marketing trends that any savvy organization should keep an eye on: content, mobile and personalization.

There is a proven approach to stopping the fatal donor attrition rates — placing hyperfocus on relationships with existing donors to keep them close. That’s mammoth potential, and your donor newsletter is a vital tool for bringing it to life. Here’s how to put your newsletter into play: 1. Share, don't ask. 2. Connect your content and your people. 3. Keep it all about donors — with an imaginary editorial board. 4. Make it easy to recognize and remember.

Nonprofits know they must emotionally connect with their constituents. Now, for-profit brands are focusing on emotional marketing, or as Fast Company calls it, "sadvertising."

When you're writing a fundraising letter, the last thing you want to do is write the fundraising letter. I mean that literally. The letter is the emotional core of your package. So before you dive in, ask, and answer, these five questions.

I’ve been working with a number of nonprofits recently to help them raise more money through their fundraising letters and annual appeals. Here are four tips you can use to raise more money from your next fundraising mailing: 1. Directly show the impact a donation will make on the world. 2. Focus on both immediate gifts and lifetime donor value. 3. Measure ROI, not cost. 4. Time  your mail drops prudently.

At their core, all fundraising and marketing efforts involve telling stories. Storytelling is the best way to build relationships, cultivate donors and raise money. This is because emotion, not rational analysis, causes people to take action. Make sure your nonprofit is not making these nine common storytelling mistakes: over-reliance on data, no compelling visual, no clear reason, no context, no protagonist, thinking that slick video production equals a great story, "silo-ing" the storytellers, focusing on the tools and thinking it's a one-time deal.

When you write a fundraising appeal, thank-you letter or newsletter article, are you throwing in terms like at-risk youth and underserved communities? The problem with those terms is they're broad and often meaningless.

Here's an example from a thank-you letter I received from a social-services agency. "As you already know, X organization serves individuals who are often the most disenfranchised members of their communities." Yikes! What does that mean?

Email marketers have another tool to grab subscribers' attention: preheader text. Here are nine ways to customize preheader text that will invite readers to open up your email and stay awhile: 1. Tease the content of your email. 2. Provide a strong call to action. 3. Elaborate on the subject line. 4. Write a personal message. 5. Give an incentive to open. 6. Repeating yourself is repetitive. 7. Keep it short. 8. A/B test. 9. Include an emoji.