Effective Writing For Small Nonprofits

March 30, 2015      Admin

Unfortunately, not every nonprofit can afford to hire accomplished copywriters and designers to prepare their fundraising messages. I wish everyone could, because there’s an enormous bank of know-how out there, and there’s no real substitute for it … fundraising copywriting and design is a craft.

But the fact is, in many — if not most — nonprofits the task of preparing fundraising appeals falls to the same untrained person juggling numerous other tasks … or even to the volunteer who draws the short straw.

Occasionally, we see an article that might be helpful to you small outfits. Here’s one published in Direct Marketing IQ: ‘13 Tactics to Get Your Marketing Messages Read’, by experienced copywriting/creative hands Pat Friesen and Patrick Fultz.

Their overarching point: people are scanners first, readers and responders second. Many of their recommendations flow from that principle …

  • Copywriting and design must work together — smart design brings attention to the most important copy that intrigues, identifies benefits, addresses points of resistance, delivers the call to action.
  • Think ‘short’ to entice scanners into reading — short words (5 characters or less), short sentences (1.5 lines or less), short paragraphs (6 lines or less).
  • Use headlines, subheads, captions, charts & graphs, sidebars to pull your reader along.
  • Use serif type for ‘ink on paper’; sans serif for the screen (explanation provided).
  • And, as Pat says: “Numbered and bulleted lists are a writer’s best friend.”

These and most of the 13 Tactics relate to the design and style aspects of effective marketing messages.

For master-level help in crafting your stories and composing the right words, start by reading Jerry Huntsingers’ superb tutorials in SOFII (when I last checked there were 57 of these). Then, to stay informed about smart copywriting and creative, plug into Jeff Brooks’ blog, Future Fundraising Now.

These resources will help your outfit — whatever its size — do a much better job at presenting your fundraising messages … when you can’t afford the consultant.

Tom

 

3 responses to “Effective Writing For Small Nonprofits”

  1. Lisa Sargent says:
    March 30, 2015 at 5:50 am

    Tom Ahern recently had a terrific case study on how self-taught orgs can do great things with direct mail, here: http://aherncomm.com/ss_plugins/content/content.php?content.5149. While we’re at it, pretty much all of Tom’s books ought to be in your DIY study list. Mal Warwick’s too.

  2. Mary Cahalane says:
    March 30, 2015 at 7:24 am

    Amen to the tips, and to Lisa’s addition. (Read Lisa’s site, too, btw – another real pro with great advice to share.)

    There’s a lot people can learn and do on their own if they’re willing to work at it!

  3. Lisa Sargent says:
    March 30, 2015 at 5:22 pm

    Thank you Mary. Still blushing. 🙂

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