writing that raises money - 4 writing strategies every fundraiser should know
TRANSCRIPT
Writing that Raises Money: 4 Writing Strategies Every Fundraiser Should Know
3/23/17
1pm Eastern
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Before we get started »
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Our guest presenter »Vanessa Chase Lockshin @vanessaechase • international non-profit consultant,
thought leader, trainer, and speaker • author of The Storytelling Non-Profit:
a practical guide to telling stories that raise money and awareness
• founder of The Storytelling Non-Profit • has provided training and
professional development to over 9,000 non-profit professionals and helped non-profits raise over $10million
Writing that Raises Money:4 Writing Strategies Every Fundraiser Should Know
Presented by Vanessa Chase Lockshin www.TheStorytellingNonprofit.com
Question
How do you feel when you think about sitting down to write something?
“Becoming a writer is about being conscious. When you’re conscious and writing from a place of insight and simplicity and real caring about the truth, you have the ability to throw the lights on for your reader.”
- Anne Lamott
What You’ll Learn Today
• How to write donor centered materials
• How to write for your audience• How to write with urgency and ease• Tips for overcoming writer’s block• Answers to your questions
Hello There! Vanessa Chase Lockshinwww.TheStorytellingNonprofit.com Author: The Storytelling Non-Profit
Speaker: Association of fundraising professionals, Council for Advancement and Support of Education, npEngage, BBCON, Association of Donor Relations Professionals
Clients: BC Children’s Hospital Foundation, Barnard College, OpenMedia, Boucher Institute of Naturopathic Medicine
Strategy #1Know Your Audience
“If you need to raise funds from donors, you need to study them, respect them, and build everything you do around them.”
- Jeff Brooks
Question
Does your writing revolve around your donors?
Know Your Audience
Question
What do you currently know about your donors?
What else would you like to know?
Know Your Audience
Survey your donors
Host a few focus groups
Pick up the phone and talk to them
Know Your Audience
Ask demographic & psychographics questions
Why do you give to our organization?
What do you like the most about our work?
Do you enjoy reading our newsletter?
Know Your Audience
Action Item:
Talk to 3 donors in the next week. Ask them a few questions and take notes.
Question
How can you write something that resonates with your audience?
Strategy #2Use Your Audience’s Words
Use Your Audience’s Words
Go back to the basic things you know about them
Find the hook
Never stop learning about your audience
Use Your Audience’s WordsBefore
You can help ensure that life-giving media reaches communities most in need right now. Feba’s work is made possible by generous donors who care about communities in need. Our donors give Our supporters give to inform, educate, and inspire change in the world.
Sierra Leone was the country most impacted by Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). To date, 12,901 people have contracted EVD & 3,915 have died. Pre-existing health systems have been disrupted, jobs lost, education postponed & Ebola survivors face on-going after-effects. Ebola is viewed with fear & trauma. Those affected by EVD are stigmatised, health services are severely impacted through a mistrust of the health system & community awareness is low in some areas making recovery & prevention difficult. Radio can improve the response to and impact of Ebola in Sierra Leone.
Use Your Audience’s Words
After
Your gift to Hands on Health will tackle Ebola by community radio.
You’ve probably heard a lot about Ebola on the news this past year. For all of the discussion about containing the spread of the Ebola virus, many agencies are not looking at the most fundamental way to contain the spread - communication. By supporting the Hands on Health project, you will enable local communities to be active in the response to eradicate Ebola by using media to strengthen community resilience, raise awareness, address stigma & re-build community structures.
Use Your Audience’s Words
Action Item:
Start keeping a list of words and phrases your audience uses to talk about and describe your cause.
Strategy #3Urgency + Ease = Magic
Question
How do you create urgency in your stories?
If there’s not a sense of urgency, then no one will respond
Urgency can be weaved throughout an appeal; not just the call to action
Deadline + what’s a stake + talk to 1 person
Urgency + Ease
Urgency + Ease
Sixth grade reading level
Short words
Short sentences
Urgency + Ease
Simple + colloquial
Urgency + Ease
Action Item:
Review your last appeal for urgency and ease. Identify one thing you could improve.
Strategy #4Have a Tools for Writer’s Block
Writer’s Block
Try talking it out
Change your environment
Fill up your inspiration cup
Writer’s Block
Write a letter to a friend
Write about something that happened yesterday
Develop a regular writing practice
Writer’s Block
Action Item:
Pick one of the writer’s block strategies to try the next time words are not flowing.
Question
What is one thing you’ve learned during this webinar that you plan to try
this week?
Questions?
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