The Journey Begins Here!
Hello and welcome to my blog, THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY OF FUNDRAISING EMAILS.
WHY THIS BLOG—NOW!
My name is Laurie Goodman and, as a nonprofit copywriter, I get a ton of fundraising copy in my inbox every day.
Like 40 to 50 pieces a day.
Some of this copy is from organizations I actively support. And because I am an avid animal and environmental welfare advocate, a lot of the copy is from organizations that do this type of work. But not all of it.
Now, I have to admit that, for a long time, I would simply delete the emails that came from organizations I didn’t actively support. After all, who has time to read all of that email? But I often felt bad about deleting it.
As someone who writes this kind of copy for a living, I know how hard these people work to create a subject line that will stand out among all the others in an inbox. Or how much time and effort goes in to finding a story that will make readers care about their cause.
That’s when I decided to start studying this copy. Analyzing it. So at least if I can’t afford to make a donation to every organization that asks me for one—I can give them something that might make a small contribution to their efforts.
WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?
By using all this copy from my inbox, I can teach the people who are charged with writing fundraising emails what works and what doesn’t. And most importantly, why.
Now I know there are a million books available at the touch of a finger to do this very thing. But learning the components of effective fundraising emails from a book is not the same as reading a great subject line in the context of an email appeal. They can be hard to appreciate in isolation—apart from the rest of the copy.
The same is true wen it comes to telling a great story. There are lots of books full of examples of great stories that were used by organizations to entice a reader to make a donation or share a post.
But many times the books don’t show appeals that have underdeveloped stories—or that have no story at all.
Unfortunately, I see several examples of these every day, and I’ll share them with my readers, but only as a means to impart a very valuable lesson.
ONLY CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM WILL BE GIVEN
You see, my aim with this blog will never be to embarrass or insult any organization or any writer. I know everyone is doing their absolute best to raise money for causes that are worthy and deserving of support.
But if my suggestions can make an organization’s next appeal or next matching-gift a little more effective, then it will have been worth my effort.
And while I might use a piece of copy as an example of something that didn’t work one week, I might feature another aspect of that very piece of copy as an example of something that was done well at a later date.
WHAT TO EXPECT
At least once a month, I’ll highlight a component of a piece of fundraising email and I’ll tell you why or why it’s not being used effectively, if at all. Then I’ll try to provide other examples, both good and bad, of the same fundraising element from other emails.
This could involve everything from the graphics used in a piece of copy to how frequently an organization sends emails.
Anything that might have an impact on the effectiveness of email fundraising copy is in play. If it arrives in my email inbox and it has to do with fundraising for a nonprofit, it is fair game.
I hope that together we can learn a lot about writing effective fundraising emails–ones that will increase the likelihood of your organization’s success.
And, who knows, maybe I’ll use one of your emails as an example of good fundraising copy in my blog, THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY OF FUNDRAISING EMAILS.
Hope to see you there.