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Popular-ish...
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FREE how-to e-news
YES!! Subscribe to our FREE how-to e-news. Back issues: Click.
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Critiques
Read nitpicking critiques of actual donor materials sent to me for comment. Learn from others' mistakes.
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"Is Tom nearby?"
"Tom's session ... was fast-paced, entertaining and informative." Calendar | Evaluations
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> My uncensored blog <
More than 1 person has said, "I want to be you." What my work life actually looks like.
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T-shirts R psychotherapy 4 the rest of us
See the whole cheeky line. For women, men, kids. U get to chewz yr fave style, color, size. Click. When there, click "view all products."
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Sample case statements
Downloadable PDFs from successful campaigns, to help you work out your case.
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Relax a moment. The blog from France. Entries from the other office.------
Fave how-to booksClick for omniscience. Latest: 4/3/09. ------ Wheildon readability research
Australian editor Colin Wheildon did his pioneering research in the 1990s. It's the only research of its kind I know. Reprinted with permission. View selected findings.------ The place in FranceWe have a 2nd office in a wine-making village, deep in the south of France. (Note to hopeless Francophiles: we do rent the place.) To take a mental vacation, click. Our village vineyards:  |
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My (yawn) blog
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Talking points. Food crossed with politics? Whatever (and I mean that). Where I go. Who(m) I meet. Jump.
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Get your donor communications right
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The science and secrets of effective donor persuasion
 Table of Contents
" Dammit, man - you've written a book I wanted to write! Excellent, excellent stuff. Seriously, I'm going to have my staff and as many of my clients as possible read it." —Jeff Brooks Click to order the book directly from the publisher. Or order from Amazon.
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What Ahern actually does
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> WRITES notably effective donor materials for your nonprofit.
> CONSULTS on your materials, to improve their performance. I'm the guy brand name charities like Save the Children and Operation Homefront come to, to tune up their donor communications. Small shops, too! Call (US) 401-397-8104: the first chat is free.
> TRAINS you via books, workshops -- and this very website. I taught a hospital how to increase giving to their donor newsletter 1,000%, from $5K per issue to $50K per issue. What's your potential?
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Latest critique....
Case 4 support ... 2 perfection
The Fresh Start Recovery Centre in Calgary wanted a "brutal" appraisal. How's this for brutal? "What a wonderful case!"
Free downloadable PDF
Digital Flip Cards
Donor Communications Best Practices
It's a PDF. It can sit on your computer desktop for easy reference. It's a compendium of best practices for your appeals, newsletters, cases, annual reports, as well as your all-important digital realm. And it's free. Get it!
Incoming testimonial
"...done the Tom Ahern style..."
Martie K. writes, "On another note, I am happy to tell you that I received one $1K gift and one $2K gift from my end-of-year appeal letter -- done the Tom Ahern style. That is AMAZING for Girl Scouts! Most gifts are between $25 to $100. So your influence has found its way to our donors. Thank you!"
How-To E-News Issue 9.17
The Domain Formula
...for donor newsletters: PURE GOLD
Once upon a time, in Seattle, a small rebel force of direct mail fundraisers set out to challenge accepted wisdom and find out exactly how donor newsletters worked best. Destination ahead? Breakthrough!.... Read it now.
More News Items 
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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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Ahern designated CASE "Faculty Star" twice
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Thanks to workshop participant ratings of 4.5 or better (on a 5.0 scale) at the 39th annual CASE/NAIS conference, CASE has designated me a Faculty Star in both 2009 and 2010. "It places you in the top echelon of all CASE faculty...."
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Ahern now on Warwick newsletter board
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Mal Warwick has kindly reprinted a number of my columns in his professional newsletter. In June 2009, he added me to the newsletter's advisory board.
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Y This Guy? U Rightly Wonder
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 "This photo is recent, but ... I am sorry to report, it makes me look younger, thinner, and less gray than I really am. It was shot in France. All portraits shot in France take 10 years off your official age, the country is that pleasant."
IS FRANCE a Fountain of Youth?!? Oh, yeah.
The bio...
Tom Ahern is often described as "one of the world's leading authorities" on how to speak properly -- and profitably -- to donors.
He has authored four well-received how-to books on donor communications, with a fifth on the way. Each year, he delivers dozens of workshops internationally on the techniques of (and psychology behind) successful fundraising communications. In 2011, he spoke in Belgium, Italy, and Australia, with a heavy schedule of appearances in North America. His training clients that year included Princeton University, Catholic Relief Services, the University of Calgary, Boy Scouts of America, New York Community Trust, Save the Children, and the Maryland Humanities Council.
He writes fundraising materials for some of America's leading nonprofits. His specialties include donor newsletters, direct mail, and case statements (the combined campaign goals total in the billions; "I write 6-8 cases a year").
Recent and current clients include: Save the Children; the National Parks Conservation Association, with 350,000 members; Sharp, a major hospital system in San Diego; the Houston Grand Opera; the New York Community Trust (NYC's own community foundation); Crisis Assistance Ministry (NC); Alaska Conservation Foundation; and Volunteers of America, one of America's 10 largest charities.
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Is your case for support good enough?
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Want a case that donors will love? Read this highly practical how-to book. Special bonus feature: short chapters.
Click to review table of contents
"Why do you want my hard-earned money?" A good case richly answers that basic but profound question. "Okay," you say, "but you only need a case for a capital campaign." Wrong. Behind every successful fundraising program stands a well-argued, psychologically sound case that determines the contents of newsletters, websites, and your appeals. This is the how-to book every ambitious fundraiser should read. I've taken everything I've learned writing dozens of cases for all sorts of clients and campaigns ... and clamped it all between two covers. Buy it on Amazon or at the publisher.
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Joyaux University
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Simone P. Joyaux, ACFRE, author of Strategic Fund Development: Building Profitable Relationships That Last (2nd edition) is my far-better-known colleague and spousal unit. Visit her vast website, packed with useful information for fundraising and organizational development. Click.
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Links of interest
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Categories
 Nonprofit (17)
Of use to somebody (10)
Research (9)
Most Recent
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The Agitator
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Fundraising & advocacy strategies, trends, tips...with an edge. A deep (and deeply entertaining) repository of frank advice from top practitioners.
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Campbell Rinker
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Campbell Rinker is a top source of recent research on specific types of donors: hospital donors, Catholic donors, zoo donors, etc.
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CASE
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The professional association for college, university and private school fundraisers.
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Reprinting material
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Articles from this website, my books, and the Love Thy Reader e-newsletter are often reprinted: repeatedly in Mal Warwick's newsletter; as a frequent guest on the Texas Nonprofits resource website (txnp.org); once on the SOFII (Showcase of Fundraising Innovation and Inspiration) website (sofii.org), started by the UK's Ken Burnett; in Canada Fundraiser on occasion; in South Africa, in Fundraising Forum, published as a public service by Downes Murray International; and the Network for Good Learning Center.
It's an honor and a pleasure. If you want to reprint anything on this website, please do. Of course, attribute; it's all copyrighted. Let your readers know, too, that they can sign up free for my e-newsletter by coming to this site. Drop me a line. I'd love to hear from you. |
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