Tag Archives: behavior
When disaster fundraising works and when it doesn’t
If you haven’t already, you’ll probably soon receive a barrage of emails appealing to you for donations to help the victims of the horrible earthquake in Turkey and Syria. This is of course a worthy cause. The need is overwhelming. … Continue reading
How to keep your donors interested in your fundraising appeal
It’s the age-old problem: how to engage the readers of your direct-response fundraising appeal to, first, start reading and then to continue reading. Luckily, we have some tips from Clarification blog: These are all good tips. But there’s one additional … Continue reading
Posted in copywriting, donor psychology, fundraising
Tagged behavior, charity, copywriting, donor psychology, fundraising, Fundraising copywriting, marketing, nonprofit
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What’s AI got to do with copywriting? Not much …
All the talk about AI for copywriting serves to highlight a basic misunderstanding of what copywriting is and what it isn’t. What AI bots do is produce content. That’s not copywriting. Copywriting – whether for commercial marketing or fundraising – … Continue reading
Posted in copywriting, donor psychology
Tagged behavior, copywriting, donor psychology, fundraising, Fundraising copywriting, marketing, nonprofit
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The envelope teaser
The burning question in direct mail fundraising? Should you use a teaser for the outside envelope of your next appeal, or not? Some say the plain, blank envelope is the best ‘teaser,’ a no-teaser kind of teaser. But if you … Continue reading
Posted in copywriting, donor psychology, fundraising, nonprofit
Tagged behavior, charity, copywriting, donor psychology, fundraising, Fundraising copywriting, marketing, nonprofit
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How to raise more funds with storytelling
There’s a lot of talk about storytelling in fundraising, and it’s easy to get the idea that all you have to do is throw in a story about a beneficiary to create an appeal that does gangbusters. It’s not that … Continue reading
Posted in copywriting, donor psychology, fundraising
Tagged behavior, copywriting, donation, donor psychology, fundraising, Fundraising copywriting, marketing, nonprofit
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How NOT to begin a fundraising appeal – and one way that almost always works
A fundraising appeal from a social services nonprofit opens with this: “What would we do without you? How would we help local families like Michelle’s?” That’s the opening paragraph, the first thing that donors will see, and for some, the … Continue reading
Posted in copywriting, fundraising, Uncategorized
Tagged advertising, behavior, charity, copywriting, fundraising, letter, marketing, nonprofit, Online fundraising
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Are your fundraising appeals repetitive? Good
Effective copywriting for fundraising is weird. It has a lot of characteristics that seem to be the opposite of what’s right. One of these is repetition. Good copy for an appeal tends to repeat some things over and over. To … Continue reading
Posted in copywriting, donor psychology, fundraising, nonprofit
Tagged advertising, behavior, copywriting, donor psychology, donors, fundraising, marketing
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New Year’s Fundraising Resolution: Reconnect with lapsed donors
One way to start 2020 off right is to reactivate lapsed donors. They’re not a lost cause. But you have to be strategic about winning them back. First, realize that they’re not sitting around thinking, “Wow, I haven’t given to … Continue reading
Posted in copywriting, donor psychology, fundraising, nonprofit
Tagged behavior, charity, copywriting, donation, donor psychology, fundraising
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Are you shouting at your donors without realizing it?
Yes, most donors are Baby Boomers. They’re in their 60s or later. And they don’t like to be shouted at. Are you doing that in your mail appeals? You might be if you’ve bought into the idea that the bigger … Continue reading
Posted in copywriting, donor psychology, fundraising
Tagged advertising, behavior, charity, copywriting, donation, fundraising
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This can torpedo a fundraising appeal
There’s a structure that’s often used for fundraising appeals even though it’s not really all that good for getting donors to give. This post at the Better Fundraising Company blog shows us what this structure is, and it goes something … Continue reading
Posted in copywriting, donor psychology, fundraising, nonprofit
Tagged behavior, charity, copywriting, donation, donor psychology, fundraising
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Fundraising Copywriter George Crankovic 