Creative

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.

This list of writers serves a double purpose: First, it offers some tips that, if you follow them, will absolutely make you a better writer. Second, as you read them, you'll discover how many parallels there are between your writing and so-called "serious" writing.

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.

What is it about fundraising that makes people who know nothing about it so confident they can do it better than the professionals? People who've never read a single book about how to do fundraising right … never read one of the hundreds of blogs that focus on the topic … never been to one of the conferences that are rich with useful content about it … never labored under a mentor who knew the profession inside and out …

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.