Hello Fabulous Fundraisers!
As a big believer in Continuing Education, I was thrilled to attend the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference in San Diego in the beginning of November. If you all don’t know about this conference, you should. It’s amazing. They bring the best of the fundraising world together to teach you how you can improve your fundraising efforts.
I was thrilled to meet Stephen Screen in one of the first sessions I sat in on. Look, I’m just going to say it - He’s a genius! And he will tell you anyone can learn this strategy and put it into place to raise more money. Now, Stephen works in all parts of the fundraising process, but in this session he shared mostly about Direct Mail Letters. And with it being the end of the year, I thought I would share some golden nuggets that I took from his session. After all, he would want you to implement these strategies and raise more money!
5 Direct Mail Tips and Tricks:
Write to one person - there is only one person reading your letter (Friend, not Friends).
Ask for help with a Single Unit need (A meal for A person, not meals for those in need).
Use photos that show the need, not the desired result.
Only share the story that the donor can affect, stick to the singular need.
Have one signature. People give to people. One signer makes it a more personalized ask.
There are so many simple tips that will make your efforts go further. Just keep focused on ONE call to action and you will find great return on these mailings.
Want to learn more about your direct mailing and how to improve it for fundraising? Please visit The Better Fundraising Company and our new friend Steven Screen! He even has a free ebook called: “Asks that Make Your Donors Take Action!” It’s free. Go get your copy!