You've come a long way, online America, baby! This is the 79th issue of the Fundraising Writing Newsletter. Kindly share it with someone who is all about Connecting... until... Connected! (They can ​subscribe for free.)

In this issue:

• 1 easy way to make the financials in your next impact report donor-relevant 🎯
• Randomly yours: to inspire and recharge you

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Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Hi Reader,

It's 1994.

You and your partner have just moved in together. You're doing well enough to own a computer.

An awesome new company called America Online mails you an installation disc — for free!

The tech is amazing. It even talks to you.

"You've got mail!"

It dawns on you:

You now have 2 email addresses.

(Can 1 household have more than 1 email address?!)

It further dawns on you:

No, 2 people don't need to share 1 email account.

And really, now that you look at it again... the email account name is kind of weird — and kind of long. You stare at it.

brettandorjulie@omgwereontheinterwebsdotcom

You shrug. Oh well. Too late.

True story.

(Except for the part after the @)

Alas, we "labeled" ourselves wrong. We didn't know any better. What can we say? It was the '90s.

But you are living in the future.

You know the value of being relevant.

So, consider this:

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1 easy way to make the financials in your next impact report donor-relevant 🎯

In the old days (like: yesterday), you could simply label your financials in plain language and get away with it.

You could use on-the-nose, not-really-relevant-for-donors verbiage such as you can see here below:

Today, however, you have come to realize that everybody is online. And it's not just Americans, either.

So now, language like:

Programs,

Fundraising,

Administration, and

brettandorjulie@omgwereontheinterwebsdotcom

...no longer retain the fine fragrance of long-lasting relevance.

Yet here's something you can proudly, safely, odoriferously dab behind your fundraising ears:

If you make these small, sweet-smelling changes, your donors will read your impact report financials with a much greater sense of impact. They will be more likely to think with their brains and feel with their hearts.

your financials + ❤️ + mission = donor relevance

(And we all deserve to wear the lovely scent of Eau de Relevance.)

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Randomly yours: to inspire and recharge you

For your brain, heart, and funny bone...

• Fundraisingly Informative — What’s Your Idea Ratio and Who’s Your Billy Blaze? by Kevin Schulman (a blog post about how to combine the power of human brainstorming with the power of AI brainstorming via tools such as ChatGPT)
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• Audibly Writerly — Building a Universe: Taylor Sheridan and David C. Glasser via The Official Yellowstone Podcast (a 68-minute podcast episode in which two of the creators of the show Yellowstone and its two prequels, 1883 and 1923, are interviewed with a focus on how they built their fictional universe to be #1 in tv viewership in 2022)
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• Visibly Goofy — Marvel Heroes as an 80's Family Sitcom Intro by VFX Makeover (a 2-minute YouTube video in the style of the Disney Plus show WandaVision ... made by humans with AI image generation ... including an 80's-style sitcom theme song that is on point)
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• Methodically Neighborly — Mister Rogers Had a Simple Set of Rules for Talking to Children by Maxwell King (a thought-provoking Atlantic article about how carefully Fred Rogers wrote and edited every word that children on his show would end up hearing, to maximize good outcomes and minimize harmful outcomes for impressionable young minds)
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• Historically Fashionably Late — Letter arrives more than 100 years after being posted by Christian Edwards (a CNN article about a man in Bath, England who receives a letter sent to his address... post-marked 1916)

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Until next time: May you live long and well and always stay relevant!

All our best,

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PS: Tom Ahern's new webinar: "How to write a fabulous Case" (with unlimited "All-You-Can-Eat Q&A" session) will happen "with bells on" (i.e., it will be awesomely helpful) on March 30th at 1:00 PM ET.

Special Early Bird pricing ends March 1st.

Tom will be training. Leah Eustace will be special guesting. Julie will be moderating. Join us, won't you, please — and bring your best good questions!
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PPS: If you'd like to read past issues of this newsletter, the Fundraising Writing Newsletter archive is here.