Charitable giving is an activity of the soul. People give because it feels good. Or because they love others. Or they want better karma or to add jewels to their crowns. Or they believe God wants them to give.
All soullish reasons that motivate them long before their income tax deduction becomes a factor.
Copyblogger recently looked at this very issue: Once More With Feeling: Has Your Writing Got Soul? How do you know if your writing has soul? Well, according to Copyblogger, you can bet it doesn't if it's "... a million-point mission statement, painfully crafted by some dreary committee and signed off by a gray-suited and grayer-haired chairman."
We'll let Copyblogger's slur against gray-haired people slide, because the larger point is good:
The old stuffy, sterile, forced, detached formal relationships are being replaced with more human, warm, touchy-feely, authentic interactions. More people are choosing to deal with human beings rather than faceless organizations.
If you want to connect with people at the soul level -- which is what you need to do to successfully raise funds -- you need to use the language of the soul. You need to sound human. Here are three things you can do to get there:
- Have one person write your copy. A committee will never, ever create copy with soul.
- Put your brand guidelines aside. They're meant to keep you from sounding like an individual human. Write about the matter at hand with the materials and passion that are relevant.
- Read copy out loud. Stilted, inhuman prose will stand out for what it is if you say it out loud.
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