The 3 top skills you need to be a powerful fundraising writer

A lot of people think quality writing is some kind of magic that requires in-born talent that most people just don’t have.

As a person who makes a living largely by writing, I’m tempted to promote that myth.

But it’s not true.

Great writing — like most skills — comes from hard work, lots of practice, and knowing where to focus.

Great fundraising writers are strong on these three things:

1. Focus on donors. You’re obsessed with donors. You want to know what moves them. You seek to understand their values. You want to know as much as you can about their demographic and psychographic characteristics. Amateurs think donors are just an undifferentiated mass of generic people. Fundraisers know otherwise.
2. Willingness to revise. No matter what you write, your first draft is garbage. In some situations (like an email telling your co-workers that there are donuts in the kitchen), that garbage is good enough. Not in fundraising — or anything that’s meant to move people to specific action. Fundraising writers keep revising until their writing is excellent.
3. An “ear.” This is almost a “talent.” But you can cultivate it. An ear is the ability to detect appropriateness of “voice,” quality of “flow,” and sense of rhythm. You improve your ear by reading a lot. And imitating well-written copy.