LEGGE HEADS ARMS BODY: top ten secrets of headlines that pull

by Ken Burnett

If you are raising funds in any public medium your responses will directly relate to the effectiveness of your headline. A good headline can easily double or triple your response, and a great one can do even better – up to 17 times better, some say.

Nine tips for effective e-mails

by Nick Allen

E-mail may seem boring, what with Google Earth, Web 2.0, Twitter, widgets, and badges, but it’s still the workhorse of online fundraising and communications.

Is your newsletter great donor relationship-building, or an unwise self-indulgence?

by Tom Ahern & Sean Triner

Almost all nonprofits produce a newsletter and send it out with their warm appeals. But should they?

Ten tips to spur the creative grant proposal-writing process

by Pamela Grow

Pamela says: ‘Your final step should be a gracious letter to the foundation, thanking them for their time and their thorough review of your proposal. You’d be surprised at how few organisations take the time to thank the foundation.’

How I wrote it: why I owe my career to a sea turtle

by Fergal Byrne

The direct marketing agency, Lautman & Company had hired Richard Armstong to write what he anticipated to be a routine fundraising package for the Center for Environmental Education. It seems there was a problem developing on the beaches of Florida; bright lights from beachfront properties were distracting hatchling sea turtles on their way to the ocean, reducing their chances of survival. In response, the Center for Environmental Education created the Sea Turtle Rescue Fund.

In-memoriam donation thank-you letter samples

by Lisa Sargent

These letters are part of Lisa Sargent’s thank-you letter clinic: How to write lively memorial donation thank-you letters.

Do it yourself fundraising

by Marc Pitman

Start-up nonprofits often ask me, ‘How do we raise money?’. The panic of making budget seems to make raising money impossible without knowing someone rich and famous like Bill Gates or Warren Buffet.

Supporter surveys: what do your supporters really think?, part 2

by Jonathon Grapsas

The second part of a three-part analysis of the benefits of annual supporter surveys.

How to be an effective client

by Ken Burnett

SOFII’s founder and trustee, Ken Burnett, introduces this showcase and explains why he thinks it’s not just important but critical, that fundraisers have a place to go where they can learn how to be an effective client. The reason for this? To ensure that not so much as a penny of donor’s faithfully given money is wasted. SOFII can be that place.

A debt to the master: the Ogilvy effect

by Ken Burnett

Part two of SOFII’s tribute to ‘the pope of advertising’, David Ogilvy.

David Ogilvy: A profile of the ‘father of advertising’

by Christiana Stergiou

While the thought of another ‘must read’ book for fundraisers might overwhelm, you really should read this book, especially if you want to hire, or are currently working with an agency, want to apply for a job, have to write copy or are using …

How to really understand fundraising’s reigning big idea, direct mail

by Mal Warwick

The foreword to this short and readable book summarises its value well, ‘For reluctant writers who need warm-up exercises and structured lessons…and for seasoned grant writers who get caught up in the jargon of our fields’…

Review by Jan Chisholm.