Steven Screen is at it again. Steven is an amazing direct mail and fundraising expert. And he has a way of making me feel uncomfortable. He says the best story for raising money is the “incomplete story.” You see, when I write fundraising letters, my first...
Have you ever struggled with the active voice vs. passive voice in your fundraising letters? It’s so easy to slip into the passive voice, thinking it sounds more “objective” or “business-like.” But active voice is easier to read and is...
It was the midst of the Great Recession, and about one in ten people across the U.S. were out of work. Amadou was one of them. Unemployment benefits helped his family, for a while. But he had worked for a low wage, and his benefits were only a fraction of that—and...
Fall fundraising is hard enough. But listening to NPR’s All Things Considered on my ride home this evening, I remembered how much more challenging political mailing will make your fundraising this fall. So I pulled to the side of the rode to record this...
This morning, I read a great post by Terry St. Marie called “The Critical First Step For Great Leadership: The Journey From ‘I’ to ‘We’.” His movement from ego-centricity to inclusiveness is something as critical in fundraising as...
