Donor Cultivation Plan for New Offline Donors 7 Steps to Engage New Direct Mail Donors and Increase Donor Retention New donors are precious, and cultivating new donors is one of your most essential fundraising tasks. But that cultivation must be done in a very specific way if you want to maximize your revenue. You want […]
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Category: Fundraising Letters
Which Is Better – Direct Mail or Online Fundraising?
Which Is Better – Direct Mail or Online Fundraising? Plus: 6-Step Multi-Channel Donor Action Plan It’s a common belief that direct mail fundraising is more costly and less effective than digital or online fundraising. People say ‘direct mail is dead.’ The proper response to that assertion is – show me the data. If they looked […]
How to Get More People to Read Your Nonprofit’s Emails
How to Get More People to Read Your Nonprofit’s Emails 7 Email Copywriting Strategies to Engage Readers and Drive Response Getting your nonprofit’s emails opened is one thing. But getting people to read the whole email is quite another. It doesn’t do much good if people open your emails but then just read the first […]
Small Nonprofit Series: Our Nonprofit Is Too Small to Use Direct Mail
Small Nonprofit Series: Our Nonprofit Is Too Small to Use Direct Mail 4 Strategies for Direct Mail Fundraising – Including a Phone Script! Just about no nonprofit is too small for direct mail. What it really comes down to is, how and where do you want to invest your fundraising dollars. Since you do have […]
10 Secrets to Blowing Past Your Matching Grant Fundraising Goals – Especially in the Covid Era
10 Secrets to Blowing Past Your Matching Grant Fundraising Goals – Especially in the Covid Era Tips to Elevate Your Email and Direct Mail Match Campaigns Matching grants are a tried and true fundraising strategy. And for good reason. Whatever you give, the gift is doubled (or tripled, or whatever multiple you have secured). The […]
Business Reply Envelopes for Nonprofits – Are They a Good Idea for Your Organization?
Business Reply Envelopes for Nonprofits – Are They a Good Idea for Your Organization? How to Set Up a Business Reply Mail Account in 9 Steps If your nonprofit sends out more than 437 pieces of direct mail per year, you might want to consider setting up a Business Reply Mail account with the Post […]
14 Fundraising Writing Tips – How to Raise More Money without Spending More
14 Fundraising Writing Tips – How to Raise More Money without Spending More If you’re doing your own fundraising writing, you probably wonder sometimes if you’re doing it ‘right.’ Or if there even is a ‘right’ way to do it. Perhaps a better way to think of it is, there are more effective ways to […]
Why You Should Rarely Use Jargon in Your Fundraising
Why You Should Rarely Use Jargon in Your Fundraising Don’t Let the Jargonasaur Scare Away Your Donors Maybe it’s my background in education, but I can’t stand jargon. I’ll never forget reading about the school board candidates in my voter’s pamphlet one year. One of their descriptions was so packed with industry jargon, buzzwords, and […]
Fundraising Tip: Aim for the Heart, Not the Head
Fundraising Tip: Aim for the Heart, Not the Head Behavior Research Confirms: Donors Don’t Care About Your Facts and Figures A more fun headline for this article might be this: Research confirms that donors don’t care about research. An article in The Guardian examines several research studies of donor behavior and concludes that donors respond […]
The Overlooked Secret to Fundraising Copywriting – Verbs
The Overlooked Secret to Fundraising Copywriting – Verbs Part 2: Fundraising Copywriting Smackdown: Verbs vs Adjectives See Part 1: 4 Copywriting Tips on How to Lasso Your Reader’s Attention with Verbs What language best engages readers and motivates them to give your cause How do you tell fundraising stories well enough to evoke a […]
The Overlooked Secret to Fundraising Copywriting – Verbs
The Overlooked Secret to Fundraising Copywriting – Verbs Part 1: 4 Fundraising Copywriting Tips on How to Use Verbs to Lasso Your Reader’s Attention “The little boy went far from home to look for food.” “The little boy traveled far from home to search for food.” Great fundraising copywriting shouldn’t be complicated. In fact, if […]
How to Write ‘Can’t Look Away’ Headlines for Nonprofits
How to Write ‘Can’t Look Away’ Headlines for Nonprofits 6-Step Guide Reveals How to Engage and Inspire Your Readers to Action In this media-saturated age, getting anyone to read your nonprofit’s content and fundraising appeals presents an unending challenge. Each new piece of content you send out requires a fresh motivation to be read by […]
Guide to Nonprofit Christmas Card Fundraising
Guide to Nonprofit Christmas Card Fundraising Plus: 4 Reasons Why Holiday Cards Are Effective Should your nonprofit send Christmas cards? Yes! You’ll see why in a moment, but first here’s a quick 8-step guide to writing great nonprofit Christmas cards. 8 Steps to Writing and Sending Nonprofit Christmas Cards 1. Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays? […]
Ripped from Hollywood: The Anatomy of Fundraising Storytelling – How to Insert Donors into Your Narrative
Ripped from Hollywood: The Anatomy of Fundraising Storytelling – How to Insert Donors into Your Narrative 6 Components Every Well-Told Fundraising Story Must Have The power of story in fundraising is well-known. What’s less well-known is how to tell a story well, such that it motivates donors to want to take action. Besides fundraising copywriting, […]
4 Reasons Why Long Fundraising Letters Beat Short Ones 90% of the Time
4 Reasons Why Long Fundraising Letters Beat Short Ones 90% of the Time Are You Ready to Let Facts Confront Your Beliefs About Donors? Yes, long fundraising letters work better. It’s true for nonprofits. It’s true for direct mail in many for-profit industries. It’s generally true in email too (though not as often). But don’t […]
