Writing your case for support Crafting direct mail and other donor correspondence Developing popular donor newsletters Down-to-earth training in best practices Auditing donor communications programs for effectiveness
Feel free to reprint, with attribution, articles from this website and Ahern's Love Thy Reader e-newsletter. Many already do: from Texas to South Africa. ALSO let your readers know that they can sign up free for my how-to e-newsletter.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. But outright copying could be a safer route.
This acquisition letter worked
But its next-of-kin did not
A West Coast colleague writes, "I’m volunteering for a local hospice, helping them with their fundraising. They do two direct mail appeals a year. About a year ago, they used a sample appeal [from your website]. They pretty much picked it up word-for-word, putting their name and facts into your letter. It did better than any appeal they’d ever sent. Next time around, they thought they understood the patterns and principles, so they wrote their own letter in the style and spirit of your letter — so they thought. It bombed."
04/11/09
Fundraisers: Don't judge this book by its title
Next time say the right thing
Meeting with a major gift prospect? Learn how to build trust and close the deal
I'm a big fan of reading outside the bubble of the fundraising industry. Every so often you run across a shockingly helpful business book that seems at first glance to have nothing to do with fundraising -- and yet is profoundly helpful with that difficult enterprise. This is one of those titles: Storyselling for Financial Advisors.
...read more
03/26/09
Encountered on the front lines...
Smart jock personalization
U. Calgary athletics case scores big in first seconds of the visit!
This might be the smartest, most relevant bit of personalization I've seen. You're looking at the case for support from the University of Calgary's Dino Athletics. The white part is the case brochure. The bright red panel is a sleeve that slips around that brochure. The sleeve has the prospect's name spelled out in "athlete" type (here, the Wilson family). Imagine when this personalized case is handed over - "Oh, my! Will you look at that!" More Calgary on blog ...
03/07/09
Capital campaign coming up? Read this first...
JUST RELEASED: How to write a case for support
Truths revealed, how-to's, and smart ideas from the best case writers in the nonprofit world
