You Can Also Tell "Before/After/ Before-&-After" Fundraising Stories
There's another way to tell a fundraising story. It breaks a rule, and it really works well.
YOU KNOW HOW SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO LEARN THE RULES, then learn when it's better to break them?
Like when you're told in school never to write a sentence fragment. Come to find out, that's only for formal writing. It's often better to sound natural and authentic, and doing that means writing how people talk, including in fragments.
It's the same kind of thing with the "rule" about telling the "before" part of a fundraising story in an appeal and saving the "after" part for the newsletter.
That's a good rule, generally.
Before-&-after is a timeless and effective approach.
But also effective is the lesser-known rule-breaking format I'm calling before/after/before-&-after.
Have you tried this?
I recommend it. We've used it many times in successful client appeals.
The traditional before-&-after approach tells the fundraising story of need and urgency in the appeal, then saves the fundraising story of impact for the newsletter. Like this.
But the before/after/before-&-after approach is trickier.
Below is one example we wrote for a client.
(You can read the whole direct mail appeal letter here.)
BEFORE
Tell some of the fundraising story of urgency and need.
|
|
AFTER
Tell some of the fundraising story of impact.
|
|
BEFORE
Tell more of the fundraising story of urgency and need. (You can stay focused on the same person or you can shift here to others like them who are in need right now.)
|
|
Note that, with this approach, you should typically aim for 80-90% need and urgency from the BEFORE story and 10-20% impact for the (partial) AFTER story.
Some orgs, such as arts organizations, may well include more impact in an appeal letter, because the "problem" they address is fundamentally different from service orgs.
AFTER
Finally, share the final impact update in your newsletter and/or thank-you. As always, your newsletters and thank-yous collectively serve as a "bookend" that marks the satisfying conclusion of impact bringing everything full circle. ❤️
The Fundraising Writing Newsletter
Every week we send a letter about fundraising, writing, donors, and life to smart fundraisers like you.
We share fresh, practical donor communication tips and resources... and some silliness too.
It’s free. Unsubscribe whenever you want.
We love when good things arrive in our inboxes. If you do too, subscribe today.
