Top 9 Fundraising Writing Tips of 2025

Is your fundraising worth the time? Check out these 9 tips to help your donor comms stand out.

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I blame The Beatles.

I can hear the number 9 mentioned in passing ... and then hear it on repeat, earworm-style, for the rest of the day.

Somehow, it's not annoying?

(Miss you, John Lennon.)

Anyway, here are our:

Top 9 Fundraising Writing Tips of 2025...

#9 — Your donors are drowning in words.

Your donors, like you, are constantly deciding whether or not to pay any attention to the words before them.

They're holding a phone and ready to keep scrolling.

They're sitting at a computer and ready to click 🗑️.

They're standing over the 🗑️, mail in hand.

Our job is to be worth it.

Worth the time to stop scrolling. To click on that subject line. To open that envelope. To read, feel, and act.

(Full newsletter here.)

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#8 — Fundraisers should— MOO, interrupting cow!

Every ask feels a bit like the “MOO, interrupting cow!” punchline from the now-classic joke. Yet its importance is no laughing matter.

Don’t be afraid to interrupt. Like this:

(Full newsletter here.)

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#7 — 7 fundraising appeal writing forget-me-nots and 5 what-ifs

For you too, maybe?

Here's a checklist of 7 elements Brett and I for sure do not want to forget when writing a direct mail appeal... plus 5 elements we often think, hmm, maybe this too?:

(Full newsletter here.)

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#6 — Please don't "over spice" your fundraising stories

It's a balancing act.

No spice = bland.

Too much spice = inedible.

Sensory details can be very impactful, in the right spot.

What's the right spot?

A moment of climactic tension.

A turning point you want to stress.

Where you want the reader to s-l-o-w-w-w down.

(Full newsletter here.)

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#5 — Don’t be afraid to use unexpected quotes and details

Like this quote, which we included in a direct mail appeal:

(Full newsletter here.)

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#4 — Are you falling into "the AI trap"? (Please no!)

Listen to every voice... in the beginning.

Then empower one voice: the writer's.

Keep feedback as limited as possible.

Good fundraising is a relationship. As with any relationship, your donor comms should feel intimate, like one person talking to another in conversation, authentically, passionately.

Not like a committee.

Not like a group.

Not like an AI.

Please don't fall into that trap!

(Full newsletter here.)

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#3 — You can embed a fundraising "mini gift catalog" in your appeals

Like this, which we included in an appeal for a client:

(Full newsletter here.)

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#2 — Lead with ❤️.

1.) E.g., in the Johnson Box at the top of your direct mail appeal letter:

“It hurts the most when it’s rainy.

That’s when I’m crawling on my knees.”

Would you please be there for a homeless senior like Fred?

Here, Fred is the face of an important problem. Already you can feel it in your ❤️.

(Full newsletter here.)

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#1 — "Don't make it awkward in second period" (do this instead)

As writers, we none too seldom find ourselves appreciating one of her lyrics and raising an imaginary glass in tribute. Cheers, Taylor Swift!

For example, from her song "Ruin the Friendship" on her new album The Life of a Showgirl:

Don't make it awkward in second period

This line is great because it uses the familiar and the specific to quickly, efficiently convey meaning and feeling.

In fundraising, if you don't grab your donors right away, you're in danger of losing them right away.

Here's where you might take inspiration from Taylor Swift.

Like this:

Familiar: taking a child to a nature center.
​Specific: the baby's first word is "turtle."
​Meaning: a nature center can change a life.
​Feeling: how wonderful; I'd like to be a part of that!

(Full newsletter here.)