The Little Words Mean the Most

Bruce T. knows how to throw a party

It went to the birds.

  Cathy L., City K.; Peter K., lungs doc; Deb N., Rue de L'E.

Donor Comms

 

Donor Communications

Donor Comms 101: The TEST ... how long?

Minimum 60 questions with answers and extended explanations. Probably max. 100. Or maybe 99, just to be salesy. Aiming for 10 a week, so about 6 weeks minimum to write.

Is the problem ignorance? Or

is the problem thinking we already have the right answer

Don't do this at the office

An angel named Mark Twain reached down and

made me lose some writing, writing that I was falling for, lush, funny, and entirely off point, dragging the tension out of the bigger article.

Mark Twain angel reached down and blipped my computer. I lost the passage. Enacting his advisory to all writers: "Kill your darlings." Anything you fall in love with is suspect. Tail wagging dog. Other writers get credit for saying or maybe repeating the advice. But Mark Twain's the oldest, and it sounds like him.

From REPORT section of new book, Donor Comms 101: The TEST

 

? The best way to make more money with your print newsletter is to:

[  ] Send it to everyone on your charity's mailing list

[  ] Send it to current donors only

------

Answer: Send it to current donors only

Notes and assumptions....

One of the provisions of the Domain Formula, a proven way to make lots of money with your charity's print newsletter, a formula used by experts worldwide, is that you mail ONLY to current donors (those who have given, say, in the last 18 months).

            Sending it to those who are not currently making gifts just wastes printing and postage. The correct — and cost-efficient thing to do — is to mail only to those most likely to respond ... and those would be your most current donors.

            Mailing your print newsletter to raise money is different than mailing your newsletter in the hope that it will build your agency's brand amongst a certain group of influential people.

            The first is fundraising. The second is public relations. The first is measurable in terms of results. The second is not. The first can be cost-justified. The second can't, because its impact is unquantifiable.

            When we mail a newsletter, we tend to imagine a large number of people giving it a glance. The truth is gruesomely different: if you mail out 1,000 newsletters to people who are not your current donors, I will safely predict that fewer than a half-dozen people will pay any attention to it. Getting a handful of glances from a 1,000-piece mailing is a costly waste.

            Fundraisers rightfully worry that somewhere out in lapsed land is a donor who stopped giving simply because she could no longer afford to. Maybe, though, she will return in the end, with a final gift in her will.

            Yup, that does happen from time to time. If you find in your data that someone was a faithful giver then stopped, simply send them an inquiry, asking whether they'd like to stay on your newsletter mailing list. They were a part of the family and maybe they'd like to remain so, even if they can't now give.

            Make a habit of cleaning your list and keeping it tight.

            I've seen many charities slowed down by barnacle-encrusted lists, lists bearing huge numbers of non-responsive names. A print newsletter gives you the best monetary excuse I know to weed out that list.

[sidebar: the Domain Formula bulleted]

Donor Communications 101: The TEST

for boards and bosses (and new fundraisers, too); to promote a common understanding of profitable best practices

From my new book: The Donor Communications 101 Test

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? You want to send a direct mail appeal to people who have not given to your charity before, hoping they will make a first gift. How long should this letter be, to yield the best results?

[  ] 1 page            [  ] 2 pages            [  ] 4 pages

------

Answer: 4 pages

Notes and assumptions....

Generally, shorter is not better when your organization is trying to attract new donors through direct mail. That is the experience among successful professional letter writers worldwide. They see their best results with longer letters that tell a great story, embrace the reader, delight the reader, and empower the reader to do something that will help, heal or change the world.

            That said, shorter probably is better if you've written a lousy letter. How many pages you write is not the secret. How well you write those pages is the secret. You cannot write an effective direct mail letter without training; there's too much machinery you have to know your way around. The frequently updated classic is Mal Warwick's, How to Write Successful Fundraising Appeals (latest edition: 2013, covering both postal and emailed appeals).

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Worksheet Confidential: Oh, the web of emotional triggers one weaves in a case for support

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