Everybody knows that you should send a thank you note to a donor. Along with the fundraising “ask” letter, these two kinds of letters are the bookends. However these not be the only times you make contact with your supporters. The following is a list of ten reasons you should stay in contact with your […]

One of the most important tools available to any leader of a non profit organization is the fundraising letter. With a finely-crafted missive, the leader will be able to clarify the mission, excite the audience, and deliver on the stated need. However, getting the letter to the point where it is “finely-crafted” is the hard […]

It’s always helpful to study how the big boys do it, even though most of us aren’t in that league. Most of us struggle with small budgets and only a local outreach. However, if we look carefully enough, the “big boys” do teach us many important lessons that we can scale down and apply to […]

Halloween was this past weekend and we turned deep into the dark side.  Goulies and ghosties walked the streets in my neighborhood. So let’s turn to the dark side of your year-end fundraising campaign – and shine a light on mistakes many organizations make. Here’s my Top 10 list of ways to sabotage your year-end […]

Fundraising letters communicate a specific message to potential donors and call them to action. Creating an attention getting opening paragraph is important in making a good first impression and in getting the rest of the letter read. Here are 5 Attention Getting Strategies for Fundraising Letters […]

Following up on Lori Rice’s article, Customize Communications to Increase Donor Loyalty, I’d like to explore three practical ways that you can personalize your fundraising letters. In other words, the logistics of how to get away from “Dear Friend” and other impersonal elements that take away from the power of direct mail. Steve Maggio of […]

You may have heard of the three R’s of education – Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. Today we’ll look at what I call the “Three R’s” of Fundraising Letters and hear from one non profit who implements all three of these ideas. […]