Here’s something really worth knowing, from the Better Fundraising Blog, at The Simple Outline for Appeals That Raise Money:
A (very common) appeal outline that never works:
- Thank you for helping in the past
- Let me tell you a story about someone we already helped
- Please help us continue this good work
I see appeals that follow an outline like this all the time. You’d think it was proven, guaranteed, bullet-proof, and known to work.
It doesn’t.
Instead, try …
The appeal outline that almost always works:
- There’s a problem right now
- You are needed to solve it
- Here’s how your gift will solve it
You still have to do a bunch of other things right, but this is the outline that works. Follow this (or some version of it). Abandon that other one!
Jeff Brooks has been serving the nonprofit community for more than 35 years and blogging about it since 2005. He considers fundraising the most noble of pursuits and hopes you’ll join him in that opinion. You can reach him at jeff [at] jeff-brooks [dot] com.
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