You know you must tell stories to motivate donors to action. But how? Here's a great post at Copyblogger to help: How to Write Weapons-Grade Copy. The tips for telling stories:
- Use characters and problems already familiar to the reader.
- Be specific.
- Use vivid language.
- Set up the conflict, crisis, or threat.
- Make your customer the hero.
That last one is probably the most important, and most often neglected in fundraising. We really love to tell the amazing, impressive stories that show how needed and/or effective our work is. The real story, though, is how needed and effective the donor is.
Jeff Brooks has been serving the nonprofit community for more than 30 years and blogging about it since 2005. He considers fundraising the most noble of pursuits and hopes you'll join him in that opinion. You can reach him at jeff [at] jeff-brooks [dot] com. 
