Newsletters  2010 |
 | The perfect "eventless" fundraising event
Issue 7.10: Arts charity raises money year round: Pick a day, any day. And fund it. |
| Are you a funds-raiser or a funds-depleter?
Issue 7.11: Basing your metrics on acquisition is like trying to bail a boat with a sieve. You work hard, but you still sink. |
| Release your inner archer: Learn to shoot message arrows
Issue 7.13: Targets? The vulnerable hearts and curious minds of your donors |
| Valuable direct mail concept absolutely free
Issue 7.14: Do you have the guts to try something different? My client didn't. |
| Deciding what goes into your donor newsletter
Issue 7.15: Here's the easiest explanation I've ever come up with |
| Qualityspotting
Issue 7.16: How do you know when your donor materials are strong enough for the outside world? |
| Idiot's guide to time management
Issue 8.1: I fidget, you fidget, we all fidget. |
| Donor profiles in your newsletters: Worth the trouble?
Issue 8.2: They can lead to bigger things ... or nowhere. You decide. |
| Young heads are different heads
Issue 8.3: Are younger donors alive ... or dead to you? |
| Is direct mail dead? (No, it's just dull.)
Issue 8.4: My goal? Entertain the heck out of the reader. |
| "I'll never give you a penny again!" Music to my ears.
Issue 8.5: Here's a terrific direct mail concept the client refused to try. Take it if you want ... and if you dare. |
| Your strategic plan = your case for support?
Issue 8.6: No! Don't! "The bridge is out"!!! |
| 2009 |
| Writing a fabulous case is easy
Issue 7.7: You're just answering questions |
| Take the Donor-Centered Pledge (or die)
Issue 7.5: 23 rules to live by (instead) |
| "Deserving charity"? There's no such thing.
Issue 7.4: No one owes you a gift, as this "inside a donor's mind" report makes clear. |
| Bill's amazing "Warm Words" campaign
Issue 7.8: Bill Pratt decided to raise something other than money for once, and joyous response flooded in |
| 2008 |
| Can direct mail be a cash cow for smaller nonprofits? Think "cash calves" instead.
Issue 6.13: Mass-market expectations yield disappointing results at local levels. Take heart, though: direct mail is about far more than instant cash. |
| Why won't paper die?
Issue 6.12: Everyone's drumming their fingers, waiting for paper to expire as a communications medium. Sorry. |
| The dirty truth about cases
Issue 6.11: Bitter truth? Maybe a quarter of the cases I'm hired to write never reach the finish line. Interesting tale, that. |
| When you're feeling a little irrelevant...
Issue 6.10: Do you know the real you? The one donors really care about? Likely not, thanks to the "curse of knowledge." But there's an easy way (fun, too) to see yourself anew. Read on. |
| Richard Radcliffe has your back
Issue 6.9: Are you marketing bequests? (Right.) Or "planned gifts"? (Wrongo.) |
| What is news?
Issue 6.7: Making donor news the right way |
| Does your stuff suffer from jargon breath?
Issue 6.6: Adopt a zero-jargon policy and you'll raise more money |
| 2007 |
| How to make your billion-dollar goal?
Issue 5.9: No Ph.D. OK needed for your case |
| What do we call it?
Issue 5.6: Case themes |
| Make your case and write the donor into the story
Issue 5.1: Donor = solution. It's your job to mention that more than once. |
| 2006 |
| Trust = Giving + Retention
Issue 4.5: What are donor newsletters for? |
| 2005 |
| 2004 |
| 2003 |
| A surefire story formula
Issue 1.7: Case basics... |
| Expressives crave the new
Issue 1.3: Part three of four personality types... |
| Amiables: Smile and say "Howdy!"
Issue 1.2: Part two of four personality types... |
| Analytical types: Good to the last objection
Issue 1.1: Part one of four personality types... |
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Take the Donor-Centered Pledge (or die)
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Issue 7.5: 23 rules to live by (instead)
We, [fill in the name of your nonprofit organization here], believe...
1. That donors are essential to the success of our mission.
2. That gifts are not "cash transactions." And that donors are not merely a bunch of interchangeable, easily replaceable credit cards, checkbooks and wallets.
3. That no one "owes" us a gift just because our mission is worthy.
4. That any person who chooses to become our donor has enormous potential to assist the mission.
5. That having a program for developing a relationship with that donor is how organizations tap that enormous potential.
6. That we waste that potential when donors are not promptly thanked.
7. That "lifetime value of a donor" is the best (though often overlooked) way to evaluate "return on investment" in fundraising.
8. That donors are more important than donations. Those who currently make small gifts are just as interesting to us as those who currently make large gifts.
9. That acquiring first-time donors is easy but keeping those donors is hard.
10. That many first-time gifts are no more than "impulse purchases" or "first dates."
11. That we'll have to work harder for the second gift than we did for the first.
12. That a prerequisite for above-average donor retention is a well-planned donor-centric communications program that begins with a welcome.
13. That donors want to have faith in us, and that it's our fault if they don't.
14. That donors want to make a difference in the world -- and that every gift is an attempt to achieve that goal.
15. That donors are investors. They invest in doing good. They expect their investment to prosper, or they'll invest somewhere else.
16. That we earn the donor's trust by reporting on our accomplishments and efficiency.
17. That individual donors respond to our appeals for personal reasons we can only guess at.
18. That asking a donor why she or he gave a first gift to us will likely lead to an amazingly revealing conversation.
19. That fundraising serves the donor's emotional needs as much as it serves the organization's financial needs.
20. That we are in the "feel good" business. Donors feel good when they help make the world a better place. We sell joy, the joy of "feeling like you [the donor] have made a difference."
21. That a prime goal of fundraising communications is to satisfy basic human needs such as the donor's need to feel important and worthwhile.
22. That the donor's perspective defines what is a "major" gift. Is $250 a major gift? Many organizations would say no. Most donors would say yes. The donor's always right.
23. That, for the donor, every first gift to a new cause can open a door to a strange and exciting world, and you're the guide to that world, through your communications. © 2007 and 2009 Ahern and Joyaux. Adapted from Keep Your Donors: The Guide to Better Communications and Stronger Relationships, by Tom Ahern and Simone Joyaux (John Wiley & Company Publishers, November 2007)
Takeaway: I am a joy-bringer. As a writer of fundraising communications, that's my basic job description: joy-monger. My job is to put joy in someone's heart.
I know, from research and experience, that if I focus on making my audience (my donors and my prospects) feel good about themselves -- because they have chosen to join my good fight or stirring campaign or worthy cause -- then I will never, ever have to worry about bringing in money or retaining donor loyalty. Those will follow in abundance.
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Tom Ahern, tagline judge
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Nancy Schwartz has asked me to help judge her wildly popular Tagline Awards Program in the summer of 2010. Of course, I said yes. And I am advertising that fact because, of course, I am unbribable. Although some judges like homemade fudges; just saying. Download her 2009 Nonprofit Tagline Report.
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