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Fundraising Tuesday: The Answer is Storytelling

September 19, 2017 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

once upon a timeIt was the midst of the Great Recession, and about one in ten people across the U.S. were out of work. Amadou was one of them.

Unemployment benefits helped his family, for a while. But he had worked for a low wage, and his benefits were only a fraction of that—and then they ran out.

The only thing keeping Amadou, his family, and lot of families in Somerville, Massachusetts from starving was the SNAP program—what we all call “food stamps.”

I knew Amadou. And I knew the anti-poverty agency where I worked was signing people up for food stamps…and saving lives. But how could I show that to our donors?

The answer was storytelling.

Storytelling is the most powerful way to engage the emotions of your donors. As Network for Good tells us,

Donors tend to give twice as much when presented with a story about an affected individual, as opposed to reading huge abstract numbers of the overall scope of a problem.

Find out what kind of stories YOU can tell that will touch your donors’ imaginations and move their hearts. Read Telling Stories that Move Donors to Give, my guest post on FundraisingCoach.com.

Then, sign up for a Nonprofit Academy webinar that I’m presenting: Where’s the Story? Discovering Stories that Drive Donations. Because a story is more than just one darn thing after another. It’s a gift you can give your donors–and they will give back.

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Should Your Nonprofit Blog Speak with One Voice?

February 16, 2015 by Dennis Fischman 1 Comment

Blog!

Our Executive Director wants us to start writing all our nonprofit’s blog posts in her voice, and address them all to our donors. Do you think this is a good idea?

That’s the question Sarah asked when she attended my webinar on Blogging for Change, part of the course “Your Donor Engagement System” that Pamela Grow and I taught together.

Here’s how I answered her:

Sarah, you’ve actually asked two questions.

Should you write in one person’s voice? Probably, yes. Your readers will feel like they’re getting to know the Executive Director personally, and that will certainly make them feel closer to the organization.

But note: They’ll only feel that way if the writing is actually personal. Just signing the blog with your ED’s name and saying “I” instead of “we” won’t make any difference. You’ll need to put some of your ED’s personality into it: write in her style, tell stories from her point of view. That will take practice.

So, tell your ED you will need to spend more time together on each blog entry if you’re truly going to write in her voice. As you get more practiced at it, you will be able to do more of it on your own–but take the time right now to get it right.

All this is assuming your ED is a good spokesperson for your organization…and that she is not planning on leaving any time soon!

Should you write all your blogs to your donors?  It depends.

What’s the purpose of your blog? Have you made a strategic decision that you’re blogging to build stronger relationships with people who already support the organization? If so, I applaud you: nonprofits don’t spend enough time retaining the donors we already have!

But maybe your blog is supposed to serve a different purpose. Maybe you are trying to burnish your reputation with your funders (government agencies or foundations). Maybe your blog is a vehicle for sharing important information with your clients, or a megaphone for mobilizing advocates working on the same cause.

Have you decided what your blog is for? Do that, and then it will become clear who your audience should be. Click To Tweet

How would you answer Sarah’s questions? What would you add?

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ICYMI: the “No-Nonsense Social Media” webinar

January 22, 2015 by Dennis Fischman 1 Comment

It was a pure pleasure to present the “No-Nonsense Social Media” webinar along with my colleague Tripp Braden Wednesday afternoon! Thanks to all of you who participated.

If you missed it, it’s not too late to learn the real scoop on social media for nonprofits. Watch and listen to the recording: http://stme.in/4dtsYyI59.

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