A Bike Crash and Mid-Year Reflections

I had big plans for this week. But then a gal opened her car door into the bike lane, just as I was biking by.

I'm fine -- a little bruised and sore. I got back on my bike this morning and had a very uneventful ride to the office. But I've fallen behind on some of my goals for the week.

The experience has provided a good lesson for me. I have to remember what most people already know: I need to take a break now and then.

Sometimes, life forces us to take a few deep breaths, be thankful for what we have -- even for that giant purple bruise running down my right arm, since it could have been so, so much worse -- and take a minute or three to reassess.

And that's not bad advice for nonprofits, either. Midway through the year, is it time for you to take a step back and reassess your programmatic and fundraising goals? What have you accomplished so far? Are you on track, or are there areas you could improve? Have local, national or world events shaped your progress?

I'm going to put my feet up, take some Advil and consider my own achievements and goals. I'll be back next week, hopefully, healed, refreshed and brimming with new ideas.

Are You Authentic -- Part 3

So I've talked about understanding your own organizational identity and knowing your audience. Today, I want to talk about the 3rd peg in keeping a nonprofit organization authentic:

Keeping It Real

Your donors have a perception of your organization. If you've done your job right, it's probably pretty close to who you really are.

And because these people are your donors, that perception is one they like. When you reinforce that, they keep coming back for more. So take some time to examine how your donors perceive you.

Do they see your organization as hard-hitting advocates? Policy trendsetters? Caring professionals? Whatever those qualities are, your donors want to see them in every communication you send.

Earlier in the week, I quoted writer and author platform guru Christina Katz about brand vs. identity. Here's another bit of wisdom from her: "Your authenticity makes you memorable and your ability to accept and embrace and share your best attributes makes you magnetic."

When you know your identity, know your audience, and keep those two bits of knowledge in the forefront as you do your work, you're keeping it real. And when you do that, you'll continue to be successful, drawing more like-minded donors, and retaining the ones you already have.

Are You Authentic -- Part 2

Earlier this week, I talked about how crucial it is to know your organizational identity. If you don't know who you are as an organization, how are you going to convince people that you're worth giving to?

But just as important is Knowing Your Audience.

One of my clients has a picture taped above his desk. It's about the size of a school photo, but it's of a woman in her sixties, her smiling face framed by a halo of curly white hair. He calls her Velma.

Velma is the person he writes to. Every sentence he types on his computer is aimed at Velma. He's though up a whole biography for Velma, and he knows what motivates her to give to his organization.

There are lots of ways to uncover tidbits about your audience. Focus groups, surveys, five-question online polls, and other tools can tell you what issues they say the care most about. (Although often people will say they care about one issue, while actually giving to other issues, so it's critical to examine actual giving histories if you want to know the truth.) Analyze your file, and you can discover the average age, income level and education level of your donors. This is handy information, of course.

But when you approach your donors to ask them for money, are you really going to say, "I know most of you care about Our Very Important Issue and earn an average of $80,000/year, so won't you please donate to our Very Important Cause?"

Nope. (I hope not!) Instead, you take that information and use it to find your Velma. Who is she? What does she expect from you, and what motivates her to give? What stories can you tell her to bond her even further with your organization?

Next up: Keeping It Real.

Are You Authentic?

One of the things I love about direct mail is that, when it's done right, it can take all those meetings and reports and outreach that you do each and every day and make it all personal. The donors reading your direct mail -- or, really, any marketing or fundraising copy you write -- should be able to feel the conviction, passion and tireless effort behind what you do and get a sense of your organization's personality.

And while there are a host of reasons that fundraising copy can fail, you don't ever want it to be because it wasn't personal.

This week, I'm going to run a series of posts about how to make your copy personal. First up:

Know Your Identity

"Brands are dead. But identities are alive...and so much more interesting." Writer and author platform guru Christina Katz sent this Tweet a few weeks ago, and it caught my eye because I think it resonates for nonprofits.

Your brand is what you're "selling," what you promise to your donor in return for their support.

Your identity is the soul and vision of your organization, what you hope to achieve, now and into the future.

Of course you want your brand to be solid because that's a huge part of what's going to attract donors to you in the first place. But your identity is going to keep them coming back. So you need to make sure you know what that identity is.

Are you a scrappy band of rabble-rousers? Or a firmly established group making changes from the inside? You may be tempted to straddle the line or try to be all things to your donors, but if you want your identity to be authentic -- and you do -- you have to make a choice about who you are as an organization. And then stick to it in all your copy.

Once you figure out who YOU are, it's time to take a closer look at who your DONORS are. So come back tomorrow for a post about Knowing Your Audience.

Tuesday Tweet Roundup

I've got a busy week ahead (that includes a much-needed day off!), so I may not be able to attend to this blog as well as I'd like. To keep you occupied until I can get back here, though, I've collected some of my favorite Tweets from the last couple of weeks. Enjoy!

Good Fundraising Info

RositaCortez

"The Power of Stories: 3 Secrets to Successful Fundraising" http://bit.ly/cwduMR #nonprofit#nptech #blogger (PLZ RT)

Great take-aways for all donor communication! RT @AFPIHQ: Deciding What Goes Into Your Donor Newsletter:http://tinyurl.com/2d7ksux

Good advice - RT @FundraisingNews: Two steps to direct mail fundraising success http://bit.ly/aCyuhv #fundraising

Great info here! RT @kivilm: RT @Philanthropy: Thanks @kivilm for taking marketing questions. Transcript:http://ht.ly/1VN0X | Happy to!

Moral: write stronger teasers! RT @FundraisingNews: Why teaser-free envelopes work so well http://bit.ly/bQjfwb#fundraising

YES!RT @SandyRees: from my #SAWAconf talk: Make sure your communications (newsletter, email, etc) are interesting to your DONOR, not to YOU!

Back to My Blog

BLOGGED: Day 1 of Week of Tips for Writing Successful#fundraising Letters: http://bit.ly/aMZEVK

BLOGGED: Tip #2 for Writing Successful #fundraising Letters -http://bit.ly/bfWCUx Come check it out!

Blogged -- Day 3 of Week of Tips for Writing Successful#fundraising Letters: http://bit.ly/bFzOqz

Blogged -- Day 4 of Week of Tips for Writing Successful#fundraising Copy. http://bit.ly/9BKuVi Check it out!

BLOGGED -- Day 5 of my week of tips for Writing Successful#fundraising letters: http://bit.ly/bHF4Gp Enjoy!

Random Stuff

Vibratin

"Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together." - Vincent Van Gogh

Fun & informative! RT @yaHighway: Field Trip Friday: tension, bad decisions, swag, trends, Brit Lit, you must believe.http://bit.ly/aNkM1N

Just realized we haven't used our car since last Thursday. Love living in a #biking town.

RT @Sierra_Club: Shocking! Obama to Reopen Oil Drilling --http://sc.org/9QTQgE #oilspill

Ugh! RT @urbanmamas: What the?!? What is safe these days? Group Finds Lead In Kids' Drinks: http://ow.ly/1YgBv

Day 5 -- Use Your Resources

Welcome back for Day 5 of my Week of Tips for Writing Successful Fundraising Letters! Previous tips (You can find Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and Day 4 by clicking the links if you missed them earlier.) have talked about the nitty-gritty of writing a solid piece of fundraising copy.

But what do you do if you lose your way? It happens to even the most seasoned writers sometimes. You set out with the best of intentions, and suddenly find that you're not sure where to go next. Is this really the best lead? Is my ask as compelling as it could be? Am I making the case I need to make in a way that will inspire a donor to reach for her credit card?

To fend off my own cases of Aimless Letter Syndrome, I like to keep a few articles chock-full of how-to tips bookmarked. As I said on Day 1, I love a good refresher course!

Check out these rules by fundraising veteran Mal Warwick to help you get back on track when you wander off course.

And even though I write for nonprofits, I love these sales letter tips and these to remind me of the basics of persuasive writing.

But sometimes the most helpful thing I can do when I get stuck is to take a step back and re-find my passion. Because ultimately, it's your own passion for the work you're trying to do that will inspire others to help you do it.

And since I love a good refresher course -- and to learn new things! -- tell me what your favorite tips for writing good fundraising copy are in the comments section below.

Day 4 - Let It Sit, Or You'll Regret It

Once I've polished and honed and polished again, I always set my copy aside, at least for an hour, but preferably overnight.

The next day, I read it once more before I send it out into the world. Sometimes, when I read it through again, I'm pretty pleased, and off it goes. But most of the time, I find something -- a verb that could be stronger, a gut-punching new way to craft the lead, a tweak that makes the P.S. even more powerful.

There's something magic that happens when you let a piece percolate while you sleep, like letting a stew slow-cook -- all the ingredients come together in a new way, creating a better, stronger whole.

It's hard to take that time. I have to write fast and edit fast in order to make tight turnarounds. But I'm never, ever sorry I took the time to let a piece sit, because I always end up with a better piece in the end.

And on those rare occasions when I don't let it sit, I almost always regret it.

Take the time to craft the most powerful piece you can craft. And then take a little more time. When you send your best work to your donors, you'll get a better response. And that's really what you're after.

Don't forget to come back tomorrow for Day 5 of my Week of Tips for Writing Successful Fundraising Copy! And if you missed Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3, check them out now.