You don't have to be a Pulitzer Prize-winning author to write fundraising materials that raise lots of money.  Here are three tips for inspiring more people to give and give more...   

 

 

1.  Kill the jargon. 

 

There's no quicker way to drain the life out of something than using nonprofit jargon.  You know, words like -- sustainable, engagement, at-risk, community, strategy... I could go on and on. 

 

And it's not just a nonprofit thing.  Every industry has its own jargon. 

 

Because it's around us all the time, it's hard not to default to speaking "nonprofit-ese."  Half the time we don't even realize we're using this insider language.  And it's good shorthand when talking with colleagues, foundation officers, and others who live and breathe nonprofit work.

 

But this kind of shorthand sucks for raising money from real people -- also known as your donors.  Jargon leaves far too much room for interpretation.  And these words don't have the hard-hitting emotional impact that you need to raise serious cash.

 

So, find someone to be your jargon detector.  This must be a person who does something totally unrelated to nonprofit work.  You've got one of those lying around somewhere, right? 

 

Have them read your materials with no goal other than to circle every word they find meaningless, vague, pretentious, or otherwise unintelligible.  Then your job is to find a more compelling way to say those things.

 

For more words to avoid, check out the Jargon Finder.  Ban these words from your vocabulary and you'll be well on your way to raising more money.

 

 

2.  Make reading effortless.

 

How?  Shorter words.  Shorter sentences.  Shorter paragraphs. 

 

I've talked about this before as it relates to newsletter articles but it's about much more than that.  This is about how little spare energy and time we all have at the end of the day, how our attention spans are getting shorter every minute, and how we're used to getting information delivered in quick, bite-size pieces that are digestible on the go.

 

If you want people to read your stuff, it must be so effortless and so quick to breeze through that they literally don't realize they're doing it.   

 

You do that by writing for the 7th grade reading level.

 

Now, before you start going on about how highly educated your donors are and that you don't have to "dumb things down" for them, let me just say this... this has nothing to do with how smart you are. 

 

No one is obligated to read what you send.  And trust me when I say that nobody is going to waste their brainpower plodding through your latest appeal letter at the end of a long day.  As soon as they start to feel like it's work, they're gone.  And, the longer your words are and the denser your paragraphs become, the faster you'll lose them.

 

Enter Rudolf Flesch and his buddy Peter Kincaid to save the day.   

 

Their Flesch-Kincaid scale uses a formula based on sentence length and the number of three-syllable words to determine a "grade level" for your writing.

 

Microsoft Word comes with this feature built in, though it usually has to be enabled.  Once set up, whenever you do a spelling or grammar check, you'll get a handy-dandy readability report at the end that includes a Reading Ease Score and a Grade Level Score.  

 

What should your goals be?  Aim for a Reading Ease Score of 60-70 (the higher, the better).  And, go for a Grade Level Score of 7-8 (the lower, the better).

 

 

3.  Stop talking about your organization.

 

You'll start raising a lot more money once you stop talking about yourself and start talking about your donors.   This is called being "donor-centered."

 

Your supporters don't give you money because you do great work (though I'm sure you do).   

 

Donors give you money because it's a route to fulfilling their hopes, dreams, passions, and beliefs.  Your donors give through you, not to you.  Your organization is simply the vehicle, a means to an end.  What they really support is your mission and your vision.  That's what matters to your donors. 

 

So tell them what they've made possible or how they could make a difference now.  We all feel great when we're able to make something important happen.  When donors get that feeling from you, they'll keep giving time and time again.

 

Want a quick exercise (stolen from Tom Ahern) to give you a window into how donor-centered your fundraising materials are?  Grab a copy of your latest solicitation letter, newsletter, or even "thank you" note.  You'll also need a red pen or colored marker.  

 

Circle the word "you" every time it appears in what you're reading. 

 

Is your page covered in circles?  If not, you've got work to do.  Every time you use the word "you," readers feels more and more like you're talking to them.  It's the single easiest trick for making your materials more about your donors and less about you.

 

 

Take all three of these lessons to heart and your materials will improve significantly.  And I'm willing to bet your bottom line will too.