The Fundraiser’s Toolbox
You know that fundraising is hard work. To be successful you need to be well equipped to take on all its challenges. At SOFII, we thought you might like some help. So we’ve put together this fundraiser’s toolbox that we’ll be filling with essential examples, formats, articles, case studies, ideas and tips that we think every fundraiser should know about.
How to write a better thank-you letter (and why it matters)
by Lisa Sargent
‘Dear Friend,’ the thank-you letter began... and it broke my heart. Don’t they know my name? I wondered. (It was on the cheque I sent them, after all.)
Read moreSOFII announces the return of the thank-you letter clinic
by Lisa Sargent
New thank-you letter clinic to champion a renaissance in charity thank-you letters, starting with Lee Saunders – and YOU.
It all started when veteran fundraiser and SOFII user Lee Saunders kindly sent SOFII a packet of charity thank-you letters he’d written for charities in Western Australia.
Read moreCopywriting and design strategies for better donor newsletters: a before and after success story
by Lisa Sargent
Fundraising copywriter Lisa Sargent and designer Sandie Collette, of S.Collette Design, discuss how copywriting and design go hand-in-hand to make a Dublin-based charity's newsletter overhaul a success. Discover the strategies that helped make it happen in this case study of a nonprofit newsletter.
Read moreTo ask or not to ask, that is the question when saying thank you to a donor
by Lisa Sargent & Sean Triner
Find out what Sean Triner, co-founder and director, Pareto Fundraising in Australia and Lisa Sargent, principal at Sargent Communications, LLC in the USA have to say about this.
Read moreThe power of benchmarking
by Jonathon Grapsas
How looking around at others can help you raise more money for your cause.
Read moreSorry, but you’re just not my type!
by Colin Wheildon
Typestyle and typefaces may seem unlikely fare for readers of SOFII opinion pieces but not so if you want to communicate effectively with your donors. It has been said that communication is the key to building donors’ trust and confidence.
Review by Ken Burnett.
Read moreConversion of a techno-sceptic
by Richard C McPherson
Only a few things in life are worth missing a flight for. I’d like to tell you about two of them. The first is merely amusing but the other, I think, you will find of more value. The first was only the second flight I’d missed, ever. It was going to Oslo, Norway, but I was stuck on London’s Hammersmith roundabout…
Review by Ken Burnett.
Read moreSit in a bath of baked beans, change the world
by Bilaal Rajan
There are too many people who assume children aren’t important and can’t do anything. Twelve year old Bilaal Rajan proves them all wrong. When I first had this book ‘assigned’ to me, I thought it would be some long, boring book on fundraising. This is not the case…
Reviewed for SOFII by Skye MacKenzie.
Read moreThe 11 pillars of fundraising wisdom – plus the five assumptions that underpin effective fundraising
by Ken Burnett
In this noisy, brash and insincere world, how can fundraisers and their organisations stand out and be understood when much of the ground we would occupy is not our exclusive preserve? Indeed, our traditional territory tends to be crowded with other occupants who also posture, to the same audiences we wish to inspire, as ‘socially concerned’ and ‘worthwhile’, so we nonprofits have to struggle to be distinctive and different.
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