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Fundraising Tuesday: One Story or Many?

June 13, 2023 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

You want donors to remember your organization between the times you ask them for money. You want them to think well of you. Storytelling is a time-tested way of attracting readers’ interests and getting them to remember.

Is it better to tell one story at a time, or many?

A Magazine of Stories

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) recently mailed me what looked like a regular news magazine. It had an attractive front cover, an ad on the back cover (for the ACLU!), and a Table of Contents full of articles about issues the organization had addressed. Some of those articles told success stories; others were works in progress.

It was impressive.

It’s a week later, and the magazine has gone out in the recycling bin–and I can only remember one of the stories the ACLU told me. (And that one has been in the mainstream news!)

Am I more likely to give to the ACLU because I received the magazine? Yes, marginally. But it cost them a lot to make that impression on me–and most of the organizations I support don’t have that kind of budget.

What can your organization do instead?

Tell the Right Story to the Right Person

If you really want to make a lasting impression on your donor that will lead to renewed and increased support, find out what they care about. Then, tell them one story about that.

Find out by asking them in your welcome series after their donation, or in a survey, or by calling them on the phone, or by seeing what they post on their own social media. (Record that information in your database or CRM, and segment your list.)

Then, write to them about that specific issue. Nothing else.

If you’re a hospital, send one story to people who care about childbirth and a different story to people who care about hospice.

If you’re a museum, talk to people who care about art preservation with different examples than you use for people who care about art education for children.

And if you’re a social justice organization–even though you know that the issues you work on are all connected!–talk to the donor about protecting voter rights, ending police violence, feeding hungry families, or stopping domestic violence, but not about all of them.

Find out what that donor cares about most. Send them messages just about that issue for the next six months. And watch your end-of-year income rise!

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TY Thursday: Say Thanks by Telling the Story

May 21, 2020 by Dennis Fischman 2 Comments

Look how many donors are stepping up to help meet immediate needs during the Covid-19 crisis! I’m grateful. I’m sure your nonprofit is, too. But does your donor know what a difference she made?

It’s up to you tell her–and one of the best ways to say thank you is by sharing a story.

Here’s an excellent email from Bread of Life, sent to me by one of my friends in Melrose, MA. Make sure to read the paragraph in italics!

Transaction Date:  05/06/2020

Thank You!

Dear Serena,

Thank you for your online donation. This will help Bread of Life provide COVID-19 hunger relief services to neighbors in need.

We have seen a dramatic increase in the numbers of people needing our food pantry and evening meals. Up to 70% of those coming to our food pantry are new, many experiencing unemployment, waiting for unemployment checks. We also initiated a grocery delivery program to senior citizens, disabled residents and families with special needs. We are delivering to residents of Malden, Everett, Medford, Melrose, Stoneham, Reading, Wakefield, Revere, Winthrop and Chelsea.

A senior citizen called to say she had just received the groceries we delivered to her home. She seemed stressed and we wondered if something was wrong with the grocery order. She said “I’m sorry it’s difficult for me to speak. I’m just so overwhelmed by the kindness of Bread of Life and the kindness of the delivery driver. I’m so grateful, you wouldn’t believe.”

Thank you for supporting Bread of Life.. It is through the help and generosity of people like you that we are able to continue our work. Your compassionate support truly makes a difference!

Bread of Life.


If I were advising Bread of Life, I would make only two suggestions to improve this email:

  1. Use less “we” and more “you.” Not “We initiated a grocery delivery program” but “Your gift made it possible to deliver groceries to senior citizens, disabled residents,” etc.
  2. Take that touching story and move it toward the top of the email. If you read nothing else, and I am Bread of Life, I want you, the donor, to read that!
Thanking donors is strengthening relationships--and strengthening your nonprofit. Click To Tweet

Can I help your organization improve its thank-you letters and emails? Email [email protected], and let’s make a time to find out!

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Fundraising Tuesday: Tell Stories to Funders AND Donors

May 21, 2019 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

I heard this advice a lot when I was a Development Director: “Don’t let your grantwriter write your appeals to donors.”

Why? Supposedly, foundations and donors are two different species.

Foundations have deadlines. Donors give on impulse.

Foundations check to see if you meet their written requirements: what questions you have to answer for them, in how many words, with what documentation attached.

Donors spend three seconds looking at your letter before they decide whether to read it or throw it in the recycling bin.

It was well-meaning advice. But maybe it was wrong.

different species

Different species can love the same thing

The best advice might have been to let a storyteller work on both.

What Storytelling Does for Funders

Pamela Grow, the dean of direct mail fundraising for small nonprofits, remembers when she worked at a foundation. After reading thousands of proposals, there was one applicant she looked forward to hearing from every time.

It was the one who told her stories.

Edith was the impassioned founder of her organization, a faith-based nonprofit serving women and children.  Every grant proposal from their organization featured dynamic stories of their clients’ struggles, challenges, and most importantly, victories. Oftentimes, her stories read like magazine serials, and they really brought the organization’s mission to life.

“Remember Joan S?” Edith would write. “She’s now living in her own home, has regained custody of her children, and next June she’ll be graduating from college…”  

Pam tells us that the storytelling organization was funded for twice as long as the foundation’s guidelines allowed. (She can say that now, since she doesn’t work there any more!)

An Even Bigger Impact on Donors

Okay, so here is a major grantmaking foundation, with written guidelines and procedures, a competitive process, and a bureaucracy that included the President,  the Vice President of Administration, the Vice President of Programming, and the Vice President of Finance.

Those are supposed to be the hard heads at the foundation, the sticklers, the keepers of the gate.

And all of them wanted to read this particular grant application every time it came in. Because it told great stories.

The donors on your list aren’t professional funders. You don’t have to overcome their skepticism. You just have to touch their hearts.

It’s so simple: always tell stories to your donors. They’ll look forward to hearing from you, and they will give.

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