Creative

When you publish that e-mail, direct-mail letter, tweet or Facebook update … what are you offering donors? And are you making it an attractive offer that they don’t want to ignore? Yes, your offer and call to action are — in my opinion — some of the most critical elements in your appeal.

Ah, I could talk about direct mail forever ... but I'll stop here! All this old dog asks is that all you skeptics out there take a few minutes to consider (or re-consider) direct mail — an old-fashioned fundraising tool that can breathe new life into your year-end fundraising.

Your year-end appeal letter just might be missing the boat. I interviewed the great direct-mail genius Tom Ahern for our 2013 Year-End Fundraising Telesummit. Here are five things I bet you are doing wrong: 1. Your call to action is weak. 2. You are not asking enough times in the letter. 3. Your type font is too small. 4. The word “you” is not showing up enough. 5. You are not mailing often enough to your donors asking them to renew.

Are engaging visuals a priority in your organization? With so many things competing for people's attention today, images and photos are a more important aspect of your communications toolbox than ever before. Here are some tips to help you improve your image content: 1. Seek out great images. 2. Be strategic about your subject matter. 3. Choose the right message for just the right photo. 4. Share the images you are capturing.

Getting good stories is hard. It takes time, too. That's why too many organizations wait for stories to fall into their laps, rather than actively seeking them out. So what's a time-sapped, budget-strapped charity to do? Here are six steps to mining for story gold: 1. Always listen. 2. Channel your inner story scout. 3. Get in there! 4. Use this as your mantra: Everyone has a story. 5. Focus on the outcome. 6. Make the donor the hero.

The important thing is to touch your donors' emotions in a variety of ways. Your mission may be simple. But the ways you can ask for support are not.

Words have the power to inspire. They also have the power to alienate. Words can touch us, or they can fall flat. In my previous post, I shared seven words that, when used together, can earn you the respect, trust and appreciation of prospects and donors. I now want to share my list of planned-giving and major-giving related words and phrases that, at times, make me cringe: planned giving, bequest, philanthropy, generous and please RSVP.

Storytelling is an important tool that nonprofits are using in fundraising and communications. But perhaps its most important role is being able to forge relationships with constituents in a scalable way. Especially when it comes to annual-giving stewardship.

Being familiar with the complexities of annual-giving portfolios, I know that many annual giving fundraisers struggle with how to provide donors with meaningful stewardship without having to put in 14 hour days. Moreover, the real secret of course to retaining donors and increasing fundraising revenue is to provide donors with stewardship.

In today's media-heavy world, in which people are bombarded by ads and asks multiple times every day, charities are frequently told that if they want to attract attention to their causes and raise money they need to create emotive appeals. However, at the same time, charities are often warned against using guilt as a way of encouraging people to give.

But just how effective are emotive appeals of any kind? And how can charities ensure they are carefully balancing emotion without falling into guilt-tripping?

Just as people can sense when they're being handled, they can also sense when someone is being disingenuous in communications. It's not always something they can put their finger on, but you'd better believe they know it when they feel it.