How to Write Fundraising Materials that Raise More Money


Book Description

Writing to raise money takes more than a few choice words. Highly profitable communications use a wide array of "trade secrets" to boost response. Things like emotional triggers, a working knowledge of reader psychology, the discovery of eye motion studies, and donor research ? all help writing pros reap big rewards from their appeal letters, newsletters, websites, case statements, and more.Now these trade secrets are yours, collected in one easy-to-understand volume: How to Write Fundraising Materials that Raise More Money ? The Art, the Science, the Secrets. Author Tom Ahern is recognized as one of North America's leading experts on effective communications. His workshops are in hot demand. Last year he released a first-of-its-kind book on moneymaking donor newsletters.Now, in his new book, Ahern reveals all: how top fundraising writers inspire their prospects to make that first gift ? and how they keep existing donors loyal and generous.Raising more money through words, via the printed page or online, is no accident. But anyone can do it well: you don?t need special writing talent. All you need is this essential guide to best practices in the fundraising industry.




Raise More Money with Email


Book Description

To succeed today in email fundraising, you need to do more than just email your donors. You need to tell a compelling story that moves the reader emotionally to give. Raise More Money with Email will equip you to do just that. In this book, Jeremy shows you how to: Understand the elements of what goes into an email appeal Write an effective email appeal Create a repeatable process for producing high quality nonprofit fundraising campaigns Generate more email addresses for your fundraising Build a nonprofit email marketing program that gets results You may be creating your first nonprofit fundraising email campaign, or perhaps you want to learn more so that your next effort generates improved results. Either way, this book will help you write more effective appeals that get results. This book will help your NGO get more results from your email marketing program. What Others Say About Raise More Money with Email Jeremy Reis brilliantly reveals the secret to crafting an email appeal that inspires response. Breaking down each component and presenting clear examples, he delivers exactly what you and your marketing team need to know. Understand this type of appeal in the context of other activities. Learn about how to measure results and genuinely thank all those who respond. You need to buy the book and apply these proven best practices immediately! - Tami Heim, President & CEO, Christian Leadership Alliance It has been my privilege to work with Jeremy for quite a few years. We, at BBS, do respect Jeremy's high degree of professionalism and ability. Jeremy is unusual not just in his skills and perspective, but his willingness to keep his focus on his responses and relationships clear - not overwhelmed by fancy graphics or catering only to one generation. In this practical easy-to-use book, Jeremy will teach you how to write and work for response - he will help you communicate missionally with your donors and new friends while maximizing the bottom line. - Dale Berkey, President, BBS & Associates Jeremy's new book, Raise More Money with Email: Activate Digital Giving at Your Nonprofit, is a must read for any nonprofit leader seeking to find that digital stream of revenue that has escaped them to this point. I can highly recommend this book. His ideas around the importance of email to fundraising, urgency and the key to keeping the donor as the hero and at the center of the story will empower the reader to lift their response rates immediately. - Timothy L. Smith, former CDO, Museum of the Bible This book is gold; full of real-world insights and actionable items that is sure to give any non-profit the tools and resources needed to effectively use email to fundraise. - Kyle Chowning, Full Cycle Marketing Jeremy Reis provides important information in email marketing trends and practical, easily implemented steps for the understaffed nonprofit marketer. He builds his case for why his methods work and then gives checklists and step-by-step directions to create effective campaigns. I plan to use his book to train staff and as a working reference to keep on track with creating well-performing email campaigns. - Renee Targos, Nonprofit Marketing Director I have known Jeremy to be relentless in his pursuit of understanding the methodologies of communicating to various audiences. This work has nuggets that can take many ministries into a new platforms of development, measurement and growth. I can endorse Raise More Money with Email without reservation and hesitation. I encourage all those engaged in the work we call ministry to engage with these concepts as positive change will be the result. - Ossie Mills, VP of Communications and Marketing, ORU




How to Raise Planned Gifts by Mail


Book Description




The Mercifully Brief, Real-world Guide To-- Raising $1,000 Gifts by Mail


Book Description

Whoever heard of raising $1,000 gifts (not to mention $3,000, $4,000 and $5,000 gifts) by mail? That's the realm of face-to-face fundraising, right?Not exclusively, says Mal Warwick, in his book, The Mercifully Brief, Real World Guide to Raising $1,000 Gifts by Mail.And Warwick should know. He's spent the last decade perfecting the art of high dollar direct mail.Take just one mailing Warwick cites (he has scores of them to draw from). Nearly $150,000 was raised from just 2,400 people, many of whom had never given more than $100 to the cause.Just as remarkable, the final fundraising cost for this effort was eight cents! per dollar raised.How do you do this? Must you tap a professional firm or be a prizewinning writer?Absolutely not. Warwick touts self-reliance. He shows you - with carefully selected examples and illustrations - how to succeed on your own, walking you step by step through the process of identifying your prospects, crafting the right letter, the right brochure, the right response device, and the right envelope. In this admirably slim book, Warwick convinces even the most doubting Thomas. Commit to the strategies he outlines, and you'll be startled, if not astounded, by the results.




The Storytelling Non-Profit


Book Description

"The Storytelling Non-Profit is a portable consultant for fundraisers, communicators and executive directors who want to tell great stories. In this book, professionals will learn a process for telling a story that inspires and resonates with a target audience."--Back cover.




Social Change Anytime Everywhere


Book Description

Strategies for advocacy, fundraising, and engaging the community Social Change Anytime Everywhere was written for nonprofit staff who say themselves or are asked by others, “Email communications, social media, and mobile are important, but how will they help our nonprofit and the issues we work on? Most importantly, how the heck do we integrate and utilize these tools successfully?” The book will help answer these questions, and is organized to guide readers through the planning and implementation of online multi-channel strategies that will spark advocacy, raise money and promote deeper community engagement in order to achieve social change in real time. It also serves as a resource to help nonprofit staff and their boards quickly understand the evolving online landscape and identify and implement the best online channels, strategies, tools, and tactics to help their organizations achieve their missions.




The Mercifully Brief, Real World Guide to Raising Thousands (if Not Tens of Thousands) of Dollars with Email


Book Description

Perhaps you're skeptical.After reading the title of this book, you?re saying: ?Sure, Red Cross and Salvation Army can raise tons of money with email, but my agency isn?t a brand name. You?re telling me I can do the same!?? Well, no. Author Madeline Stanionis isn?t claiming that. She?s President of Donordigital, not Pollyanna. What she is saying is that you can raise a healthy amount - thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars - if you approach email fundraising with a measure of intelligence and creativity.And you?ve got to hand it to Stanionis. Any consultant who would give away the store as she does in this book has something grander in mind than her own self interest.And give away the store is what the author does. Generously dispensing advice, insider tips, and recommendations she usually commands tidy sums for, Stanionis reveals precisely what you need to do, step by step, to raise substantial money with email.And while it?s not as simple as sending hastily written emails every week or month, neither is it unduly complicated or time-consuming.At heart, raising thousands of dollars with email is all about building your list, using timing to your advantage, crafting a series of coherent messages, presenting your email in a visually appealing way, and carefully observing your returns for clues that can guide your future efforts.That?s it really. And any organization following Stanionis? trenchant advice will see immediate results.Further, there?s plenty of material in the book to customize and adapt, as Stanionis offers a wealth of sample emails from diverse organizations.And taking it a step further, in the Resources section of the book, the author shows you how to identify just the help you might need (a "messaging vendor" who can send your emails, for example).Other books talk about ?Internet fundraising," which usually encompasses e-commerce strategies such as online shopping malls and auctions. That?s all well and good, but many of us want to know one simple thing - how can we raise more money with email? And do it now? Raising Thousands (if Not Tens of Thousands) of Dollars with Email puts that question to rest.




The Digital Fundraising Blueprint


Book Description

Written by a fundraiser for fundraisers. The Digital Fundraising Blueprint provides a one-stop resource for nonprofits to use when it comes to raising more money online. The strategies and tactics contained in this book are the exact same ones used by the author, a digital fundraising consultant, that helped raise over $100 million for nonprofits. Now, you have access to the same tips and frameworks, which can power your nonprofit to do more good in the world. This book goes into detail about raising money via website content, email, social media, social media ads, search engine marketing, online display ads, mobile, and more! In addition, this book is loaded with tips that you can immediately put into place to incrementally generate more money for your nonprofit. What about Snapchat, Amazon Alexa, and Facebook Live? There are tips on those in this book as well. Looking for ways to incorporate digital with your direct mail fundraising efforts? That's in here too. For a beginner audience, it provides education on digital fundraising terms and marketing channels. For nonprofit leaders that may not be directly engaged with the digital efforts of its organization, this book will provide a baseline to understand the concepts and learn how to ask the right questions. For a more advanced digital fundraising audience, this book will include several tips for digital creative, testing ideas, donation page recommendations, and an overview of the digital fundraising ecosystem. The content of this book will spark ideas that will help you take your digital fundraising to the next level. In addition to providing information on what digital fundraising is and how to use it, this book also walks the reader through how to plan and organize your fundraising efforts. This is the most comprehensive book on the market about digital fundraising, based on real-life experience, not theories or second-hand knowledge. The following are topics covered in The Digital Fundraising Blueprint:The Digital Fundraising Ecosystem OverviewDigital Fundraising ComponentsYour WebsiteWebsite Hierarchy of ContentWebsite User Experience (UX)Website Branding and PositioningWebsite Email Capture TipsDonation Page TipsWebsite Content TipsWebsite Tracking & AnalyticsWebsite Search Engine Optimization (SEO)Website Privacy Policy, Terms & Conditions, and GDPREmailEmail Acquisition TipsThe Anatomy of a Fundraising EmailFundraising Email TipsAffirmation Email TipsCAN-SPAM Overview & Email BlacklistingEmail List HygieneEmail TestingEmail Design TipsSocial Media OverviewFacebookYouTubeInstagramTwitterLinkedInSnapchatDigital Media OverviewSearch Engine Marketing (SEM)Google Ad GrantsOnline Display AdsSocial Media AdsContent MarketingDigital Integration with Direct MailMobile FundraisingOther Digital Fundraising ChannelsThe Digital Fundraising FunnelAnnual Digital Fundraising PlanningTypes of Annual Planning AssetsHow to Prioritize Your Digital Fundraising ChannelsDigital Campaigns Overview




The End of Fundraising


Book Description

Why does it cost nonprofits on average $20 to raise $100, while it costs companies only $4? Simply put: Nonprofits have no leverage. No one has to make a donation. And since most donors have no direct stake in the organizations they support, they make donations out of the goodness of their hearts. If donors feel like writing a check, they will. If they don't, they won't. The End of Fundraising turns fundraising on its head, teaching nonprofits how to stop begging for charity and start selling impact. For the first time, nonprofits have economic power. We live in a new era where consumers, businesses, investors, employees, and service providers attach real economic value to social outcomes. An era where yesterday's "feel good" issues—education, the environment, health care, the arts, and animal rights—now have direct economic consequences and opportunities. Nonprofits now have leverage. To use this leverage, nonprofits must learn how to "sell" their impact to a new set of stakeholders. Using his fifteen years of experience advising the world's leading nonprofits, foundations, and corporations, Jason Saul reveals the formula for how nonprofits transcend the paradigm of charitable fundraising and reach true financial sustainability. Specifically, this groundbreaking book offers nonprofit professionals a guide to Understand the role of social change in our economy Capture and communicate impact in simple, compelling terms Identify the new market stakeholders that value nonprofit outcomes Create powerful value propositions to increase leverage Improve the success of a nonprofit's pitches to funders The End of Fundraising includes the tools needed to effectively frame, market, and sell a nonprofit organization's impact, and contains step-by-step guidance for creating dynamic new opportunities with a variety of funders.




Fundraising Mistakes that Bedevil All Boards (and Staff Too)


Book Description

Fundraising mistakes are a thing of the past.Or, rather, there's no excuse now for making any serious mistake.And that goes for board members, staff, novice, or veteran.If you blunder from this day forward, it's simply evidence you haven't read Kay Sprinkel Grace's new book, Fundraising Mistakes that Bedevil All Boards, in which she exposes all of the errors. Well, not every conceivable one, but at least the top ones that thwart us time and again.This is an ingenious book, and it's a wonder it wasn't written years ago.Sure, if you've attended a fundraising seminar, or read a Jerry Panas book, or perused one of the field's journals, you're familiar with a dozen or so mistakes to avoid. But the appeal of this book ? and it will become a classic ? is that in one place it gathers and discusses ALL of the biggest errors.Some, like the following, will be second nature if you've been in the field for long:o "Tax deductibility is a powerful incentive." It isn't, as you know.o "People will give just because yours is a good cause." They won't.o "Wealth is mostly what determines a person's willingness to give." Not so. Other factors are equally important.Other mistakes aren't as apparent. For example: "You need a powerful board to have a successful campaign." Truth be told, many are convinced that without a powerful board they can't succeed. Grace shows otherwise.Then, too, there are more nuanced mistakes:o "We can't raise big money - we don't know any rich people." Don't believe it. You can raise substantial dollars.o "Most people don't like to give." To the contrary, many find joy in it.o "Without a track record in annual giving, you can't have a successful capital campaign." In fact you can, but your tactics will be different.And that touches on only seven of the 40 mistakes Grace explores (and explodes).Just as anyone involved in journalism should own a copy of Strunk and White's, The Elements of Style, anyone involved in fundraising ? board member, staff, volunteer ? should have Fundraising Mistakes that Bedevil All Boards by their side.When Grace makes it so easy to avoid costly errors, it is imprudent to risk repeating them.