Use Your Donor Newsletter to Acquire Donors

by Alan Sharpe on December 18, 2009 · 0 comments

in Donor acquisition, Newsletters, donor

Your donor newsletter doesn’t have to be something that you mail to people after they give you a donation. If your newsletter, business model and board of directors allow it, you can use your newsletter as a way to acquire donors. An excellent example is a magazine called Vim & Vigor. It’s 8.5′ x 11”, full color, and actually looks like a magazine. It’s perfectly bound and looks like it could be sitting on the shelf right next to Cosmopolitan at the cash out in a supermarket. [click to continue…]

Tagged as: Direct mail fundraising, Newsletters, donor

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Four Steps to Better Donation Letter Reply Devices

by Alan Sharpe on November 20, 2009 · 0 comments

in Asks, Fundraising letters, Response

Successful direct mail donation letters contain three things: a compelling case for support, a request for funds (the “ask”), and a response device. The case is the Incentive. The ask is the Imperative. And the response device is the Instrument. [click to continue…]

Tagged as: reply devices

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Why a Convicted Felon Should Write your Next Fundraising Letter

November 13, 2009

I know a man who spent 21 years in maximum security prisons. A product of rape born in an abandoned building, he was incarcerated at age eight into Canada’s most violent and brutal reform school. He became a chronic runaway, then a gang leader, then a drug king-pin. He was addicted to drugs for 20 [...]

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Online Fundraising: Are these Four Vital Words on your Website?

October 9, 2009

Your success at online fundraising depends on four words. If you want to acquire members and donors, raise funds and encourage others to advocate for your cause, these four words must appear on your website.

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Attention Online Fundraisers: Your Donors Want to Get Engaged

October 5, 2009

The non-profit organizations who raise the most money online use their websites to engage visitors. This is a vital step in raising money online. It’s not enough just to have a Donate Now button. You have to have a website that actually encourages people to do something on your website and get involved in some [...]

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Dear Alan, What do you Recommend for Reminder Letters?

September 4, 2009

Dear Alan,
Do you have any suggestions for the (post direct mail) reminder letter? I would love your thoughts on the letter as well as the donation form.
Thanks, Shannon Brown

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Dear Alan, What is “list cleansing” in direct mail fundraising?

September 2, 2009

List cleansing is the process of keeping a mailing list accurate and up to date. The process involves, among other things, removing duplicate records, formatting addresses to postal standards, and updating addresses of those who move.
See more definitions at the Glossary of Direct Mail Fundraising

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Dear Alan, What are “cells” in direct mail fundraising?

August 31, 2009

In list terminology, a cell is a statistical unit or units, a group of individuals selected from a file on a common basis and isolated as a group.
See more definitions at the Glossary of Direct Mail Fundraising

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Does UNICEF’s Nickel Donor Acquisition Mailing Infuriate You?

August 28, 2009

 
UNICEF is mailing a donor acquisition package that is making plenty of recipients furious. I know why. The package is a #10 window envelope that features, peeking through the window, a shiny 5 cent piece. A piece of teaser copy on the envelope points to the coin and exclaims: “This nickel could save a child’s [...]

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Dear Alan, What is a Carrier Route in direct mail fundraising?

August 28, 2009

A Carrier Route is a group of addresses that a mail carrier can deliver to in a single day. Carrier Routes “roll up” into ZIP Codes. There are roughly 15 ZIP Codes per Carrier Route.
See more definitions at the Glossary of Direct Mail Fundraising

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Dear Alan, What is a “Back Test” in direct mail fundraising?

August 27, 2009

A Back Test is a mailing designed to reproduce, and therefore confirm, the results of a recent direct mail test. Also called a retest or confirming test. Usually run when the results of a test fall within an acceptable range but do not give the mailer enough confidence to roll-out to the entire list.
See more [...]

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Dear Alan, What does “alphanumeric” mean in direct mail fundraising?

August 26, 2009

Alphanumeric: A set of characters that contains letters and numbers, and perhaps punctuation marks, such as a Key code: JUN-0909-L21.
Learn more at the Glossary of Direct Mail Fundraising

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Is Your Returned Mail Costing You $481 a Piece?

August 21, 2009

You have a costly problem with returned mail. All non-profit organizations do. You mail perfectly nice letters to donors who have supported your cause for years, and then, one day, without so much as a by-your-leave their mail comes back to you marked RETURN TO SENDER.

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How to Help Your Lettershop Bungle Your Fundraising Campaign

August 14, 2009

I know from reliable sources that the Mr. Murphy who coined Murphy’s Law (“If something can go wrong, it will”) worked as an account manager at a lettershop. After leaving his position of direct mail fundraising manager at a national charity. After all, in what other line of work, other than, say, launching a space [...]

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Reduce Undeliverable Fundraising Appeals by Acquiring Phone Numbers and Email Addresses Before Donors Move

August 3, 2009

Stephen Hitchcock makes a wise recommendation on how to keep your mailing list clean. In his article, Keeping Your Donor File Clean,  in Contributions Magazine, Stephen recommends the following step: 

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Quiz: Do You Write to Someone, or Everyone, in Your Donation Request Letters?

July 31, 2009

The secret to success in direct mail fundraising is to write to an individual, not to a list. Write to someone, not to everyone. Take this short quiz to discover if your appeal letters are personal or impersonal.

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Five Steps for Better Fundraising Letter Envelopes

July 17, 2009

In direct mail fundraising, more people see your mailing envelope than will ever see what is inside. That’s because donors and prospects alike spend only a few seconds examining your envelope before deciding whether to peruse it or pitch it.

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Lift Fundraising Letter Response Rates with Lift Notes

June 26, 2009

Do lift notes still lift response rates to fundraising letters? Yes, as long as they stand out.

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Don’t Watch Fundraising Costs, But Cost-Effectiveness

June 19, 2009

I received an email from a fundraiser who is about to lose her job. Her board of directors has decided they cannot afford her salary. They see her salary as just a line item in the budget, one found under the heading of Costs rather than Income. They blame their decision on the recession. I [...]

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June 4, 2009

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How to Find New Major Gift Donors

May 29, 2009

Your organization needs to find more major donors for two vital reasons. First, major donor fundraising is the most cost-effective use of your time and money, costing somewhere between two cents and fifteen cents to raise a dollar. Second, many organizations are finding that the top 20 percent of their donors contribute 80 percent of [...]

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Improve Your Direct Mail Fundraising Letters: Donate to Your Competitors

May 8, 2009

One of the quickest ways to learn the craft of direct mail fundraising is to donate money to your strongest competitors. Pick the Top 10 organizations you admire and mail them a donation of at least $20. Then watch your mailbox. What you’ll get is a correspondence course in raising money with paper and postage.

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Major Gift Program Fundraising Tips

April 3, 2009

The main difference between direct mail fundraising and major gift fundraising is simple. Direct mail fundraising solicits small gifts from many people while major gift fundraising solicits large gifts from few people. One tactic solicits on paper, the other in person. Here are some tips to remember when you begin a major gift program.

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Moves Management Key to Major Gift Fundraising

February 27, 2009

The key to securing large gifts from your donors is relationships. Relationships that are warm, professional and mutually beneficial. But how do you nurture or cultivate those relationships with prospective donors who have little or no connection with your organization and your cause?

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Do Fundraising Letter Envelopes Need Teaser Copy or Images?

February 13, 2009

I was handed a challenge last week. If I am brave enough I will accept it.
I taught a class at a college in Toronto. The professor invited me to teach his students about direct mail fundraising envelopes. So I spoke at length and, with examples, class participation, question-and-answer sessions, brainstorming and group exercises, taught the [...]

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Fundraising Letter Length: Six Ways Not to Decide

December 19, 2008

How long should your next fundraising letter be? One page? Two pages? Six pages? What is the correct length for a direct mail appeal?
I’ll tell you in a minute.

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Reduce Your Direct Mail Fundraising Costs and Attrition Rates with NCOA

December 12, 2008

What would you do if I broke into your office at midnight, sat down at your computer, and jumbled the mailing addresses of 1,200 of your current donors so they became undeliverable?

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Don’t Ask for a Gift in Direct Mail Fundraising Letters

October 24, 2008

My wife can still remember the name of her math teacher from grade four. You know why? Because he, um, paused every few words, and ah, ahhhhh, you know, ahh, added an ahh to what he was saying, ah, so that Ruth, was driven to, um, distraction.

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Christmas Fundraising Letters: Make Your Appeal Original but Contemporary

October 10, 2008

If your non-profit organization is typical, your direct mail program raises 50 percent of its revenue with one mailing-the Christmas appeal. More people give more money to the “Holiday Season” letter than they give to any other single mailing all year. Your goal this Christmas is to persuade these generous donors to give again. Here’s [...]

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In Fundraising Letters, Use Present Tense

October 3, 2008

If you want your fundraising letters to sound more vigorous, get tense. The present tense, that is.
Listen to the sports news on the radio and you’ll hear the announcer saying, “tomorrow the Atlanta Falcons take on the Minnesota Vikings.” The announcer doesn’t say, “the Atlanta Falcons will take on the Minnesota Vikings.” He doesn’t say [...]

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Direct Mail Donor Acquisition: How to Ask for the Right Amount

August 15, 2008

My wife and I listed our house for sale last Monday and sold it on Wednesday. The buyer offered us a few hundred dollars more than our asking price, so we accepted. But we have lingering doubts. Maybe you would, too.
You know how it is. You name your price, and your buyer agrees immediately. So [...]

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Back-End Premiums in Direct Mail Fundraising: Think Twice Before Offering

August 11, 2008

You should literally think twice before offering your direct mail donors a back-end premium. And neither of these thoughts has anything to do with net revenue.

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With Fundraising Software, it Pays to be Exclusive in Data Entry

July 11, 2008

The most valuable thing in direct mail fundraising isn’t your donors, but your donor data. Your building could burn down this afternoon, and all your staff could quit, and you’d still be able to recover if your donor data remained intact. But if you lose your donor data, you lose, period.

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Direct Mail Fundraising Tests: Follow these Eight Rules for Success

July 4, 2008

The best way to improve your direct mail fundraising program is through testing. Don’t follow fads, board whims, or a gut feeling that turns out to be indigestion.
Instead, test. And, to save money and time (and further indigestion), follow these eight rules.

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Look for Connection, Not Cash, in Prospective Direct Mail Donors

June 27, 2008

I received an email the other day that reads as follows:
–letter starts–
Hello Mr. Raiser,
My name is _______. I work for a non profit organization, the ____________. We are in a season of taking the ministry international and also growing and empowering the ministries within. I would like to draft up a professional letter, that will [...]

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Lapsed Direct Mail Donors are Better than New Donors

June 13, 2008

One of your best sources of direct mail donations is people who have stopped giving you direct mail donations. We call these people “lapsed donors” and “expired members,” two uncharitable ways of referring to friends who have not given a donation in 12 months or more.

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Boost Response by Not Including a Reply Envelope

May 23, 2008

Your donors do not respond to your direct mail appeals because you include a postage-paid reply envelope. They respond because they believe in your cause, admire your organization, and want to help the people you serve.

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Will Direct Mail Fundraising Work for You? Ask and Find Out

May 9, 2008

Back in 1997, as I sat in the departures lounge at Ottawa International Airport, I didn’t know if Ruth would accept my proposal of marriage. I fidgeted. I procrastinated. Finally, as they announced the final call for her flight back to Ohio, I popped the question.
Ruth said yes. Yes!
That’s the tough part about asking someone [...]

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Online Fundraising: Attract Donors with Search Engine Optimization

May 2, 2008

Search engines are the most common way that potential donors will find your website. A non-profit website that appears near the top of search engine results will witness a dramatic increase in traffic compared with competing websites that appear further down in the results.
Like every other charity, you want a high ranking on the search [...]

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Mail an Envelope, Not a Postcard, in Direct Mail Fundraising

April 25, 2008

I have on my desk a direct mail fundraising envelope that I have never opened. And never will. Perhaps you can learn a lesson from its failings.
The offending article was mailed by the Canadian Red Cross. It is a full-colour envelope, 6.5 inches wide and 5.75 inches tall, with a window. The envelope promotes the [...]

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Your Donor Newsletter Has Just One Reader

March 7, 2008

When you write your donor newsletter stories, do you write to one reader at a time? One person writing to another? Or do you make the common newsletter mistake of writing from “us” to “them?”
Direct mail donors are individuals. They donate as individuals. And they read your newsletters as individuals. If you want your newsletter [...]

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Donor Newsletters: Show the Person Behind the Story, and the Story Behind the Person

February 29, 2008

The quickest way to improve your donor newsletters is to start seeing your world in story form. Behind every person there is a story. And behind every story there is a person. Your job is to uncover both. Your donors want to read about people, not projects. So write about people. Show photographs of people. [...]

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Boost Donor Newsletter Readership with Great Photos

February 15, 2008

Your fundraising newsletter will attract more readers, raise more funds and retain more donors when you publish outstanding photographs.
Photographs are the most important images you can feature in your donor newsletter. Good photos make your newsletter pages more interesting. They help your non-profit organization communicate immediately who you are and what you do and who [...]

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Online Fundraising Donation Pages Must Answer Donor’s 3 Questions

February 8, 2008

Do you use direct mail fundraising letters to drive donors to your website to make their donations? If you do, make sure your website donation page answers the three most common questions asked by donors.

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Online Fundraising: Four Deadly Blunders to Avoid

February 1, 2008

The good news is that 62 percent of adults visit a non-profit’s website before donating (according to a recent online survey conducted by Harris Interactive).
That’s also the bad news.
For many non-profits, the quickest way they can scare away donors is to direct them to the organization’s website. Too many non-profit websites are making blunders that [...]

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Reduce Your Direct Mail Fundraising Costs by Mailing Less Often to Those Who Give Less

January 18, 2008

The secret to reducing your direct mail fundraising costs is counterintuitive, like fertilizer.
Next time you’re out in the boonies, watch as a farmer spreads fertilizer over his field. As he passes over the parts of his field that always produce the smallest yield, he spreads little or no fertilizer. As he passes over those parts [...]

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41 Things You Can Mail to Donors in Direct Mail Fundraising

January 11, 2008

Want to learn a lesson in direct mail fundraising from Winston Churchill? He once observed that a fanatic is “someone who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.”
A fundraising letter fanatic, of course, is someone who thinks the only thing you can mail a donor is a fundraising letter. But that’s just one [...]

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Five Vital Signs of a Healthy Direct Mail Fundraising Program

January 4, 2008

I spent last night visiting two hospitals with my four-year-old son, Spencer. I noticed that the staff at each hospital took the same vital signs (pulse, oxygen saturation, temperature, breathing) to determine Spencer’s health. Nurses and doctors miles apart, working for different hospitals, on different shifts, knew the same things to look for to determine [...]

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Direct Mail Fundraising Success Depends on a Strong Case for Support

December 28, 2007

The secret to raising funds with direct mail appeal letters is not found in what you say or in how you say it but in why you say it.
Success is found not in technique but in truth. The truth of your case for support. That’s why, before you write a word of your fundraising letter [...]

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Creative Business Reply Envelopes Boost Fundraising Letter Response Rates

December 21, 2007

When was the last time you agonized over what to put on your business reply envelope? If you’re like most non-profit organizations, your BRE never changes. You mail the same BRE with every direct mail fundraising letter. And you likely print your BREs in bulk to save on printing.
But maybe you should re-think the humble [...]

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Donor Newsletters: Four Things Your Donors Demand from You

November 30, 2007

Back in the 1990s, I worked for a non-profit organization that mailed a multi-page, full-colour newsletter to around 14,000 people each month, at a cost of around $0.50 a piece. The majority of people who received the newsletter had never given a donation to the organization. Yet the organization had been mailing thousands of these [...]

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Fundraising Letter Writing Tips from Reader’s Digest

November 23, 2007

If your donor has the choice of reading your fundraising letter or reading the latest issue of Reader’s Digest, which one will she read?
This is not a trick question. The competition for your donor’s attention has never been greater. If you want your donors and members to read your fundraising letters from start to finish, [...]

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Boost Your Direct Mail Fundraising Response Rates with Deadlines

November 16, 2007

Why did the Canadian cross the road? To get to the middle.
Your job as a direct mail fundraiser is to give your donors both a reason for donating and an incentive for donating.
Your enemy is inertia. Your enemy is Coronation Street. Plenty of perfectly nice donors with perfectly good intentions to donate will nevertheless procrastinate [...]

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Reduce Direct Mail Donor Attrition in Four Ways

November 9, 2007

Your non-profit loses 15 percent of its donors every year, if you are typical. What can you do to reduce that percentage?

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In Fundraising Letters, Prove Relevance by Unseating Popular Icons

October 26, 2007

One of the quickest ways to win the attention of your distracted donors is to take a popular icon and make it a villain. By linking your cause with a trend or fad, and by taking a contrarian view, you demonstrate to donors that you are relevant, innovative and worthy of continued support.

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No Such Thing as a Fundraising Letter

October 19, 2007

If you want to be successful at raising money with fundraising letters, the first lesson you must learn is that there’s no such thing as a fundraising letter.

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Attract More Donors with Direct Mail Donor Acquisition Fundraising Letters by Avoiding these Mistakes

October 12, 2007

Woody Allen once said that “80 percent of success is just showing up.”
He was wrong, of course.

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Build Your Direct Mail Fundraising Mailing List in Three Ways

October 5, 2007

Your success as a direct mail fundraiser depends on the quality of your list. A mediocre letter mailed to the right list will outperform a terrific letter mailed to the wrong list. How you build that list is up to you. Here are three ways.

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How Donor Acquisition Mailings Differ from Donor Renewal Mailings

September 28, 2007

Your job as a direct mail fundraiser is to make new friends every and keep them for as long as possible. And to do that you need two kinds of letter, acquisition and renewal. Understand the differences between these two letters and you’ll improve your results.

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Prevent Costly Direct Mail Donor Acquisition Blunders with Test Mailings

September 21, 2007

I know a non-profit that mailed a direct mail donor acquisition package to thousands of potential donors and generated a response rate of exactly zero. That’s not a typo. Not a single person responded to the mailing.

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Grant Proposals Must Promote Funder’s Goals, Not Yours

September 7, 2007

The bad news about grant proposal writing is that grant makers will never fund what you want them to. They only fund what they want to fund.
They fund projects that further their mission.
They fund initiatives that meet their priorities.

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August 30, 2007

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In Donor Newsletters, Avoid Cliché Photos

August 24, 2007

If you want to guarantee that your donors will ignore your newsletters, illustrate your stories with cliché photos. Here are the top four:

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Donor Newsletters Must Avoid Boring Stories in Direct Mail Fundraising

August 17, 2007

One day one of the greatest bores at the Player’s Club said to Oliver Herford, “Oliver, I have been grossly insulted. Just as I passed that group over there I overheard someone say he would give me fifty dollars to resign from the club.”
“Hold out for a hundred,” counselled Hereford, “you’ll get it.”

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Donor Newsletters Must be Newsworthy in Direct Mail Fundraising

August 10, 2007

The secret to publishing compelling donor newsletters is to only publish stories that are newsworthy to your donors. But how do you decide if a story is newsworthy? Take this simple test.

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Millionaires Are Generous Donors if Asked Properly

August 3, 2007

I was pontificating with my wife, Ruth, the other day, explaining that fundraisers have no control over one of the Big Cs of fundraising. “Ideal donors,” I announced, “have the Capacity to give, have a strong Connection with the charity, and are Committed to support the charity over the long term.”

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Not All Wealthy Direct Mail Donors Live in Upscale Neighbourhoods

July 27, 2007

If you look for wealthy donors in all the usual places you’ll receive the usual result.
Disappointment.

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Look for Tightwads, Not Millionaires in Direct Mail Donor Acquisition

July 23, 2007

Most first-generation millionaires are tightwads. They aren’t rich because of how much they spend but because of how much they save.
If you need to find millionaires who will donate a large sum of money to your non-profit organization, look for tightwads, not millionaires.

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Direct Mail Fundraising is a Program, Not a Campaign

July 13, 2007

Before they hired me as their director of development, and before they ran out of money and laid me off, a non-profit organization whose name is unmentionable ran an unmentionable direct mail program.

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Database Direct Mail Fundraising: Improve Personalization Results with Detective Work.

July 6, 2007

Next time you are arrested, pay attention to what information the police officer asks you to divulge immediately. It’s not a lot.

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Are Your Fundraising Letters Too Short?

June 29, 2007

Casanova never penned a one-page love letter. So neither should you.
I write fundraising letters for some of the most well-known non-profits in North America, and not one of them has ever hired me to write a one-page fundraising letter. They know from testing that donors read two-page letters. And four-page letters. Even eight-page letters. Donors [...]

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Count Your Donors and Your Dollars in Direct Mail Fundraising.

June 21, 2007

One of the greatest mistakes I see non-profit organizations making is watching their dollars and not their donors.

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Email Fundraising Subject Lines: Use Today’s News Headlines to Boost Open Rates.

June 15, 2007

If you want to increase the number of people who read your email fundraising letters and email newsletters, put today’s headlines in your email subject lines.

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Direct Mail Fundraising Letters: Your Competitor is American Idol.

June 8, 2007

The bereaved mother who became a figurehead for the US anti-war movement abandoned her fight in May 2007 after growing disenchanted with the campaign.

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Measure Your Success in Direct Mail Fundraising with Just Four Numbers

May 4, 2007

A while back I realized that measuring the effectiveness of direct mail fundraising campaigns is a lot easier than I’d thought.

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In Donor Newsletters, Put Captions Under Photos to Boost Readership

April 27, 2007

A picture is never worth a thousand words. After all, why do newspapers and websites contain more words than images? Because pictures are insufficient on their own. Would you date someone whose nice photo you saw online, if that’s all you had to go on? Of course not. Pictures are not worth a thousand words.

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In Direct Mail Donor Acquisition, Compare Cost Per Donor with Cost Per Dollar.

April 20, 2007

The best way to measure your success in direct mail donor acquisition is to examine your cost to raise a donor rather than your cost to raise a dollar.

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Are You Too Small for Direct Mail Donor Acquisition?

April 13, 2007

Some non-profit organizations should not use direct mail as a way to attract new donors. Is your organization one of them? Take this simple test and find out.

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A List of Direct Mail Fundraising List Brokers and Managers for Your Acquisition or Prospect Mailings.

March 30, 2007

Nothing is more important in direct mail fundraising than who you mail to. A terrific letter mailed to the wrong list of people will flop. I have a client who mailed a donor acquisition package to people who had not supported his organization but had supported another. The response to his appeal was zero.

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Response Rates to Expect in Direct Mail Fundraising.

February 23, 2007

What kind of response rates do your direct mail fundraising letters generate?

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Boost Net Income by Mailing Fewer Direct Mail Fundraising Appeal Letters.

February 2, 2007

One of the easiest ways to boost net revenue in direct mail fundraising is to stop sending every appeal to every donor.

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Use Quotations in Your Fundraising Appeal Letters to Inspire and Motivate Your Donors.

January 19, 2007

Next time you write a letter to a donor but can’t think of the best way to express yourself, let someone else do it for you.
Someone like Mother Theresa. Mark Twain. Rosa Parks. Ernest Hemmingway.

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Why New Non-profits Shouldn’t Use Direct Mail to Raise Start-up Capital.

January 12, 2007

Be warned. If you’re starting a non-profit and don’t have $100,000 in the bank, don’t use direct mail. You literally cannot afford to use direct mail to raise funds right now.

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In Direct Mail Donor Acquisition, What You Win Them With Is What You Win Them To.

January 5, 2007

Want to learn a vital lesson in donor retention? Here’s a tactic from Sunday School to avoid.

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How Long are your Donors? Improve Donor Tenure and You’ll Boost Fundraising Request Letter Revenue.

December 15, 2006

How long do most of your donors contribute to your organization before they walk away? One year? Five? Ten? You should know.

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Three Donor Newsletter Mistakes to Avoid.

December 8, 2006

Every healthy direct mail fundraising program balances asking with informing. Appeal letters do the asking. And donor newsletters do the informing.

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Annual Doesn’t Mean Annually in Direct Mail Fundraising Campaigns.

November 3, 2006

One of your greatest obstacles in operating a successful annual fund is thinking of it as an annual fund.

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Don’t Mail a #10 Fundraising Letter Envelope if You Want to Stand Out

October 27, 2006

What would you do if I mailed you a package of black and white photos? Would you throw the package in the trash unopened?

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Friend, Get a Friend with Donation Request Fundraising Letters.

October 20, 2006

New donors are closer than you think. Often they are friends of your donors, or family members.

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Stamps Boost Response Rates Over Metered Postage or Indicias (Usually).

October 4, 2006

Direct mail fundraisers learned long ago that stamps boost response rates. Maybe the same will work for your sales letters. Why not test and find out?

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Spot Potential Direct Mail Donors Using the 3 Cs of Fundraising.

September 22, 2006

What does an ideal new direct mail donor look like? How can you spot one in a crowd? Or in a list of potential donors? Look for the 3 Cs.

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Appealing Fundraising Letters Request More than Donations.

September 15, 2006

The last thing you should ask for in a fundraising letter is a donation. You have no business asking for money until you have first persuaded your donor that you deserve her attention, value her time, appreciate her as a person, and want to partner with her in turning the world upside-down.

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Fundraising Letter Frequency: Mail Often Enough to Prove Friends Stay in Touch.

September 1, 2006

Want to know one of the most vital truths in direct mail fundraising? Friends stay in touch.

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Online Fundraising: Build Your List of Email Donors in 10 Simple Internet Ways.

August 25, 2006

Your greatest challenge as an email fundraiser is your list. If your organization is typical, only 10% of the people in your donor file have given you their email address. And that list isn’t growing any larger all on its own.

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Email Fundraising Must Inspire Donors to Go Online.

August 18, 2006

Sending an email with no links to follow is like mailing a direct mail appeal without enclosing a reply device or return envelope. Costly.

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Boost Email Donor Newsletter Open Rates with Safe Subject Lines.

August 4, 2006

The last time I checked, which is to say, yesterday, the average open rate for an email donor newsletter was 37%. That means 63 percent of donors are not opening the email newsletters they’ve asked to receive.

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Email Donor Newsletters: Improve Your Open Rates for Online Fundraising and Donation Success

July 28, 2006

One of the greatest challenges in email fundraising is poor open rates. The majority of donors who subscribe to email donor newsletters receive them but never open them.

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Email Fundraising Serves Four Strategic Functions

July 21, 2006

Email is cheaper than direct mail but that’s not why you should embrace it.
Your non-profit organization should be communicating with donors and members by email for four strategic reasons.

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Donation Request Letters Need Strong Protagonists

July 15, 2006

Do your donation request letters lack a protagonist? The most compelling appeal letters feature a man or a woman, a boy or a girl, that captures the donor’s attention and makes the appeal human, moving and profitable.

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Write Better Fundraising Letters by Making a Scene

July 7, 2006

Successful fundraising letters are exciting to read. They take you to crack houses, battlefields, logging protests, prisons, floods and other places you will never set foot yourself. Effective donation request letters show you the organizations you support engaged on the front lines in the battle to right wrongs, correct injustices and make the world a better place. They put you in the thick of the action. And they usually do this by making a scene.

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