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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Recent Newsletters
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| There's a right way to market bequests. Then there's what most organizations do. |
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| He needed to raise money. We need to raise money. Where's the big diff? |
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| You have a donor newsletter. You want it to help you retain donors and bring in additional gifts. So, what kinds of stories should you run? |
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| "At risk"? "Accessible"? "Services"? I hear what you're saying. I just can't SEE what you're saying. And that's the problem. |
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| Headlines are your only chance at conveying information. |
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| Nonprofits love to write about what they do. Isn't that missing the point? |
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| You know that brochure your send out about charitable bequests? Behind your back, donors call it the "death brochure." |
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| First, you need a clear idea of what you're chasing. Is it instant bucks or long-term buddies? |
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| Universities: Ban deans from the case approval loop. Hospitals: Same goes for the chief of staff. |
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| The Donor-Centric Pledge. Take it. You won't regret it. |
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| Choosing a theme for your capital campaign: it's easier than you think. |
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| Get your thick skin back from the dry cleaners and apply the following criteria. |
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| Dear Untrusted: Show this to your boss |
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| "Major" gifts? What does that make the other kind? And other "ah-ha's!" |
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| How do you turn a $20,000 gift into an ever-expanding charitable fortune? Endow a permanent fund. |
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| Donors yearn to fix problems. Oblige that emotional need by shifting the responsibility to their shoulders. |
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| "Dear Uncertain" wants to know: What purpose do donor newsletters really serve? Must we have one? |
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| "Dear Desperate Newbie" wants to know: Who's right, my executive director or me? |
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| Do we care that donors don't read much of what we send? Absolutely. Reading and donor retention are linked. |
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| Who's blessing YOUR stuff? Devils or angels |
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| Somewhere between fear and hope, a check is written |
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| You will never be in the "must read" pile. |
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| Don't know where you're going? How will you know when you're there? |
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| A newspaper article is nice, but... |
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| Statistics play a role, but it's a supporting role. |
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| Master fear and hope ... and you're fundraising worries are over. |
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| What goes in the beginning, middle, and end? Fill in these blanks. |
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| Case statements in history |
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| "Just tell me what you want me to do. Make it quick and easy." |
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| "Tell me something I DON'T know ... please, I'm begging you!" |
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| The "amiable" wants to like you. Can't we all be friends? |
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| "Analyticals," i.e., skeptics, don't rule (but they do ask questions) |
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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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