Future Fundraising Now

Science says words are things -- what that means for fundraising

by guest blogger George Crankovic, Senior Writer at TrueSense Marketing.

When it comes to writing -- and especially copywriting for fundraising -- vague and abstract are bad, while concrete and specific are good.

We know this. Now science explains why.

In one study called Reading cinnamon activates olfactory brain regions, researchers had their subjects rate words according to the association with smell, ranging on a scale from no association to a strong association. Words like "turpentine" and "cinnamon" with strong associations to smell were tested against words with no association.

The upshot is that, amazingly, when you read a word like "garlic," it lights up the same area of the brain as actually smelling garlic. Apparently, your brain thinks that reading the word is essentially the same experience as the thing itself.

The reason is equally amazing. Words are usually used together with the experience of the actual object, so the neurons relating to the word and the neurons relating to the actual thing start firing together. Then they're wired together.

It makes sense. If you come across a fetid pile of garbage rotting in the sun, you'd probably say to yourself, "Wow, that garbage stinks!" Or, when you smell coffee brewing in the morning, you think, "Oh yeah, coffee!" Your brain links word and experience together, so that they're virtually one and the same.

The word-reality connection isn't limited to the sense of smell. Reading the words, "to kick," for example, will activate the language areas of the brain, naturally. But it also activates the motor regions of the brain involved in leg and foot movement. Once again, your brain sees the word and the thing as one and the same.

What all this comes down to is that fundraising copy that's concrete and specific isn't just better. It engages donors, literally lighting up their brains. And that's not opinion. It's science.

5 things to get rid of that will improve your fundraising copy

Everyone tells you things you can do to improve your fundraising copy. Here are some things to get rid of that can make an even bigger difference for you:

1. Get rid of the teaser. More often than not, an envelope with no teaser out-performs one with a teaser.
   
2. Get rid of the brochure. Removing a brochure from a direct mail package almost always improves results.
   
3. Get rid of your first paragraph. You'd be amazed how often your first paragraph is a weak warm-up and your real lead is your second or third paragraph. Give it a try.
   
4. Get rid of your worst donors. Okay, that's not a very nice way of putting it, but there's a good chance you're losing money on donors who haven't given in a long time and/or only give very small amounts. Talk to them less. In some cases, stop talking to them.
   
5. Get rid of excess reviewers. Committees are the curse of fundraising, systematically draining life and power from anything they touch. Work without committees, and you'll see meaningful improvements.
   

(This post was first published on July 7, 2010)

What direct-marketers can learn from Sherlock

by guest blogger Andrew Rogers, Senior Writer at TrueSense Marketing.

Now in its fourth season, Sherlock, the modern-day retelling of Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, is one of the world's most popular TV shows. There's a great article over at Script magazine titled 7 Things You Can Learn from "Sherlock". Let's get out our magnifying glass and see what fundraisers can take from a few of these lessons.

• Be Visual. When Sherlock thinks, we soar through his "mind palace" with him. When he reads the details of someone's life by the clues on their bodies and clothes, we see the cataloguing as it happens. Jeff has written about the power of the "iconic image" in fundraising -- the visual representation of the need your organization addresses. But we can help donors visualize need in any medium. What toll does it take on a young girl's body when she has to walk five miles a day carrying heavy buckets of water for her family? What emotions assault a mother when she learns her baby has cancer? What confusion and terror must a dog feel when it's trapped in a cage with four other animals? The opportunities to engage a donor's heart and senses through powerful visual storytelling are almost endless.
  
• Write Roles that Stars Will Love to Play. Our stars, of course, are your donors. They want to -- and do! -- play the role of superhero in your stories. They're saving the world every time they respond to your call to action.
  
• Great Villains Make Great Movies. "When you write your scripts' villains," Rabin advises, "make sure they are fascinating, scary, complex, original, and strong and worthy opponents for your hero." With the exception of those of us working in politics, most direct marketers don't have actual human beings as our "villains." But that doesn't mean we're not confronting strong, scary, and complex evils. Here again, descriptive language is key. "Hunger" is a gut-punch in a way "food insecurity" can never be.
  
• Think Ahead. "To write the first episode," the article says, "you must already have a clear plan for how the plots and characters will develop in subsequent installments over a long period of time." Our "plots and characters" boil down to offer: a clear, compelling statement of how the donor's action solves a given problem.
  

Sherlock offers some great lessons -- not just for screenwriters, but for all of us who work with words and images.

If you've somehow managed to avoid Sherlock up to now, I encourage you to check out an episode or two.

Podcast: How to survive the "summer slump"

Most fundraisers experience a drop in giving during the summer months. Here are some tips for minimizing the pain by maximizing summertime revenue ... and other ways you can profitably use the summer months to improve your fundraising all year 'round.

To listen, click here to download the audio file or visit the Fundraising Is Beautiful page here, where you'll find several listening and subscription options.

Effective openings to fundraising messages

Here are some good was to start your fundraising letters.

Tell a story. If you've got a dynamite story that really makes the case for your offer, just start right in with the story, using a killer opening like you'd see in a mystery story: Lolita knew something was terribly wrong the minute she saw Mr. Humbert.

Trumpet the offer. If your fundraising offer is something irresistible -- a great deal, or something that gives the donor a lot of impact -- that's a great way to start: Every dollar you give today will be tripled to help hungry children. It's not only a great opening, it's a great way to spend nearly your entire message.

Talk about the donor. Since the topic of effective fundraising is the donor, this is a great way to start. Tell the donor something about herself that you know and admire. Like I know you care about our great broad-leafed urban trees. (You know this because she's given generously to protect them.)

(This post was first published on June 3, 2010)

How to raise the big bucks

Other than Zimbabwe, where can you get your hands on the big bucks?

Here are three easy ways:

1. Talk to your best donors. No really -- talk to them. Engage them in actual conversation. If they knew you cared about their opinions, many of them would be thrilled. And give more.
   
2. Don't go silent on your best donors. Far too many nonprofits have a plan for their best donors that goes like this: If your giving rises to a certain level, you get "special treatment." So far, so good. But what that means is they get dramatically less contact than they got when they were giving so much they became major donors. They stop getting asked, and many stop giving. If you don't have a plan that you're actually going to fully execute for your best donors -- just leave them be. That's not the best thing to do, but it's far better than going silent.
   
3. Spend more to get more. A lot of it takes to do effective fundraising is being effectively cheap. But with your higher-end donors, you can afford to spend more to create better impacts. Here's an easy one: affix a 1st-class stamp on the return envelope. It really works to increase response. The cost/benefit ration breaks down with donors below $100, but it's a good investment above that level.
   

(This post was first published on March 30, 2010)

12 fake grammar rules that can make you a lousy fundraiser

About 90% of everything that's said about grammar is bogus -- useless, obtuse, or flat-out inaccurate. And most of it will make your writing (and your life) worse if you follow it.

That's why I like this post from Arrant Pedantry, an excellent grammar-focused blog: 12 Mistakes Nearly Everyone Who Writes About Grammar Mistakes Makes.

Liberate yourself from useless grammar pedantry we see so often:

1. Confusing grammar with spelling, punctuation, and usage.
   
2. Treating style choices as rules.
   
3. Ignoring register.
   
4. Saying that a disliked word isn't a word.
   
5. Turning proposals into ironclad laws.
   
6. Failing to discuss exceptions to rules.
   
7. Overestimating the frequency of errors.
   
8. Believing that etymology is destiny.
   
9. Simply bungling the rules.
   
10. Saying that good grammar leads to good communication.
    
11. Using grammar to put people down.
    
12. Forgetting that correct usage ultimately comes from users.
    

#11 is the worst of the lot. It's a profoundly dysfunctional way to think about the ways we use language. Any fundraiser engaged in that should lose their license!

Future Fundraising Now is REBRANDING -- better get on board!

Well, after nearly seven years, this blog is bowing to the inevitable. It's time for a thorough corporate-style rebranding.

So, with the very expensive help of a fancy branding agency called Saul's Saw Sharpening Shop (you know they're good because they don't sound at all like they have anything to do with brand), we've changed everything about the brand of this blog.

And you know a new brand is good when it requires an explanation! So here it is:

From this day forward this blog is called Unicorn Towne.

The symbolism is pretty clear, is it not? The unicorn represents the dream world -- a world in which donors flock to our cause no matter how little effort or common sense we put into fundraising.

As the Unicorn says to Alice in Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll:

Well, now that we have seen each other, if you'll believe in me, I'll believe in you.

From now on, this blog isn't about understanding donors, and struggling to win them over by being relevant to their lives. No, we're upgrading. Henceforth, this blog is about hope, dreams, aspirations, and fundraising that makes fundraisers happy.

You can expect much more satisfying content on this blog!

For example, the popular feature on this blog that was formerly called Stupid Nonprofit Ads will change to Award-Deserving Nonprofit Ads

Learn more by reading our new 900-page brand guidebook.