Have you seen this article from Chronicle of Philanthropy? Group Wants to Steer Political-Campaign Money to Charity April 12, 2012, 10:48 am A new Web-based company is seeking to reduce the...
Why your nonprofit story needs tension and emotion
Tension is the element of story-telling you need to communicate well in the midst of your organization's crisis moment. Tension draws the audience into the experience...Emotions are an essential part...
The value of personalization in your direct mail (Tip #15)
Personalization is key. With the technology available today, there's no reason you should be sending targeted direct mail to any donor or prospect and addressing it to "Dear Friend" (or...
Fundraising and the Executive Suite
Good, bad or ugly (err...otherwise), Executive Directors set the tone for philanthropy in any nonprofit. For many organizations, this is wonderful news. There are some amazingly talented executives who are...
Communicating differently via mail with middle and major donors (Tip #14)
Middle and major donors require a different treatment in the mail than your regular donor base. These donors tend to prefer longer letters. Closed-face envelopes, higher quality paper, First Class...
If you’re in nonprofit work, you’ve heard these before…
Someone just posted this on LinkedIn and I thought it was worth sharing. Happy Friday!
Direct mail as part of an integrated fundraising strategy (Tip #13)
Donors don't behave in silos. They consume media via e-mail, print, TV, radio, mobile, social media and face-to-face. And recent studies suggest that in many cases, they consume multiple media at...
Take major donors out of your mail program at your own risk (Tip #12)
Don't take your major donors out of the direct mail stream. This is one of the worst things you can do for your organization. Typically this happens for one of...
Direct Mail Fundraising Tip of the Week (#11)
One page. Two pages. Eight pages. There is no right or wrong length for direct mail fundraising letters. Don't believe what anyone tells you about this. Those are personal biases...
Do you know what it takes to get major gifts?
Your board might think it takes a cocktail party or gala event to get major donors to give. Sometimes that's true. Others in the organization probably think you spend your...