For the first installment of our new State of Fundraising series of podcasts, we interview Jon Van Wyk of TrueSense Marketing and blogger at Fundraising Growth Now. Jon enlightens us about some of the generational and technology changes we must pay attention to if we’re going to keep raising funds in the coming years.
Two years ago, they had a great year-end letter that raised a lot of money for the cause. Last year, the committee was full of ideas for improving the letter. The result: a 50% drop in giving. Using two real year-end fundraising letters from a real organization, we reconstruct the scene of the crime. Don’t let this happen to your fundraising!
Warning: Satrical content. Do not take the advice you hear on this podcast!
The good fundraiser knows that not everything you do makes good fundraising. We bring donors on board with the stuff that makes their heart sing. We don’t insist that they fully get it before we’ll accept their donations.
If you’ve been paying attention to what information donors respond to, you know what to say and what not to say. Editing happens all the time. Just take a listen to this podcast. It’s edited from our previous podcast — and it’s just as true.
It’s also the work of our now-former editor, Peter Li. We consider it some of his best work.
Direct mail, the life-blood of most fundraising programs, has different design conventions from other types of design. It’s less pretty, more old-fashioned, and almost messy. Here’s a look at direct mail design and packaging: Everything you need to create successful fundraising appeals — from fonts, to photos, to underlining.
Effective fundraising has some characteristics that you might find odd or off-putting:
This action-packed program will help you know what should be in your fundraising messages — and why.
Fundraising is a specialized form of communication. It’s just plain odd in many ways. In this first part of a three-part series on the conventions and norms of fundraising, we look at the the way fundraising copy is written, and why it contains so much of these things:
If you’re someone who must okay fundraising copy, if you’re writing fundraising copy, or if you hope to do either some day, this podcast will be a goldmine of practical information for you.
It’s pretty simple, really: Fundraising works when it’s relevant to donors. When it’s not relevant, people ignore it. Using the recent Haiti earthquake as an example, we look at what makes a situation relevant, and what you can do to increase that relevance to your donors — even if you don’t raise money for natural disasters.
A look at what’s going well, what’s not, and what we need to know as the nonprofit world responds to the catastrophic January 12 Haiti Earthquake. Includes ideas for fundraisers who are not connected to the disaster.
Here are four truths about fundraising that can transform the way you approach this beautiful profession:
(The facts we cite about the impact of giving on giver are taken from the book Who Really Cares by Arthur C. Brooks.)
Happy Holidays, and the best to you in the coming year!