Too much on your plate? Here are two options you might want to consider (with examples). This is the 135th Fundraising Writing Newsletter. If you find value here, please tell a fundraising friend. (Your fundraising friend can ​subscribe here for free.)​

In this issue:

✅ Too much on your plate? 😬 2 options for you. 🤩

✅ Randomly yours: to inspire and recharge you

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Wednesday, June 5, 2024

Hi Reader,

Do you have too much on your plate? I hate that feeling.

It makes me think of when Brett and I went from 2 kids — ages 5 and 6 ... to 4 kids — ages 2, 5, 6, and 8 — overnight.

This photo shows a moment captured in the first full day of the Coopers six:

The night before, Brett came home from Ethiopia with the newest members of our family, Mikias, 2, and Baye, 8.

Brett immediately went up to our bedroom and crashed, sleeping for 18 hours after getting sick (from eating a sweet potato rinsed with untreated water) and exhausted (from the stress of travel, the language barrier, adoption red tape problems, and jet lag).

I took our four boys to the park and started teaching Baye a few English words. (He now pokes fun at me for this. "You kept pointing and saying, 'Sand, sand, sand!'" 🤪 🤦 🤷🏻‍♀️)

The next 12 years or so, our plates were very very full.

If that's the kind of thing you're going through at the moment, I'm afraid all I can do is blow kisses, say a prayer, and salute you. (You got this!)

But if it's donor communications that's got you saying, "Do I really need this and that and the other all together on my appetizer-size plate right now?" then you might be interested in one of the following 2 options...

Too much on your plate? 😬 2 options for you. 🤩

Option 1: rewrite with feedback

Option 2: feedback alone

95% of the work we do for our clients is neither of these — it's traditional fundraising writing: appeal writing, newsletter writing, impact/annual report writing, case writing, survey writing, and landing page, web page, social media, email and other digital writing; plus design for all of the above.

However, rewriting and feedback can be a helpful option for a number of clients.

Just this week, we've had a client ask for Option 1 and a prospect inquire about Options 1 and 2, in both cases out of the blue.

Here's the thing:

It's usually about "ammunition."

There's someone within the organization who "doesn't get it" and someone who does. And the person who does needs leverage.

Our clients, the people we talk to, get it. They understand the fundamentals of effective fundraising writing. They know the importance of YOU, the power of story, of a proper offer, of one clear call-to-action repeated throughout a piece, of busy donors appreciating and responding to readability (white space, emphasis, short sentences, short paragraphs, minimal jargon, a focus on pathos over logos/heart over head, and so on).

BUT one or more of their colleagues unfortunately does not get it. Yet. It's probably not their fault. They don't know what they don't know.

That's where Brett and I come in.

Our feedback — with or without a rewrite — can give our clients (you too?) the outside expertise they need to have a productive conversation with colleagues. They can sit with feedback in hand and talk over the differences between what we suggest and how things are usually done. They can do an A/B test to compare the results of our approach versus their usual comms.

You can get written and/or verbal impact. We can give you bullet points. We can send a video walk-through. We can have a meeting to explain everything and answer any questions you might have, in real time.

The following is an excerpt containing a bit of feedback we gave to a client:

Again, the above is only an excerpt. You can read more here.

If this sort of feedback is something you might want and need, book a free call with me now.

You can choose a day and time that's right for you. I'll be happy to give you more details and talk with you about your organization's unique situation.

One of my favorite things to do is take something off your crowded plate.💛

Randomly yours: to inspire and recharge you

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

• Fundraisingly Informative — Charity: Water and the Overhead Question by Pamela Grow (a blog post on why Charity: Water can make the claim that all donations go to help beneficiaries, never to overhead, even though the organization devotes millions yearly to overhead; and what this means for your nonprofit)​
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• Simply Revealing — Moral Alignment Test (a web-based quiz consisting of 24 quick questions to plot your moral alignment according to the Dungeons & Dragons framework of good vs. evil and lawful vs. chaotic; Brett and I came out at different spots in the lawful good quadrant)
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• Cleverly Foxy — She gave a hungry fox food and he came back with friends 🥹❤️​ via Nature Is Amazing (a 21-second video showing what might happen to you too, if you feed a fox -- so don't do that!)

Until next time: May you keep all your options open, and may your plate never be too full for too long!

Grateful,

PS. Last week's newsletter about a potential AI backlash soon, how that might affect you, and questions you might want to consider is getting a lot of engagement. The open rate (64.5%) is higher than usual. If you missed it or want to forward it to someone, here's the link.

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