Easy-to-read writing raises more money.
And one of the main things you can do to improve readability is to shorten sentences. Here’s a great start, from the Publication Coach blog, at Shortening sentences: a simple guide:
- Split super-long sentences in two (or more!).
- Cut redundant words. (Things like “at this time” can be “now,” and “first and foremost” can be “first.”
- Use the active voice. Passive voice isn’t a bad thing, but it usually takes more words to say the same thing.
- Avoid words ending in –tion. That ending means you’re turning a verb into a noun (usually a long one) and you now need to add another verb.
- Add shorter sentences — really short ones. Really.
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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