1. Storytelling for Fun and Profit
Techniques for Fundraising

2. Why does your affiliate want money?
Pay for printing and mailing newsletters
Pay expenses for your Price Survey
Help with travel expenses to Biennials
Lobbying
Open/maintain an office
Staff expenses
???

3. How can storytelling help?

4. Which would you more likely give to?
Newsletters are very expensive. Each newsletter we send out costs us over $750. Plus it takes time for us to write and edit and get to the printer. It’s also pricey for us to keep our database updated. People move or die and we have to keep all this information current. So please send us a donation. We are very careful with our money – we don’t waste a nickel, so please help us.

5. Or this one…?
Tim called for help. He is only 23 and his cousin had just been killed in a car crash. There were only the two left in his family and now he was alone and he had no idea what to do next. Who else was he going to call for help? Your gift to the Funeral Consumers Alliance means that will always be someone available to help people like Tim. Your generosity keeps doors opened, you keep the office staffed and available with information You allow us to provide a sympathetic ear when needed. Because of you we continue to offer objective help and information when needed. You are our heroes!

6. How do I improve my response?
Tell a story.
Make it donor centered. Your donor is the hero of your story.
Hand address your envelopes and sign each one
Use a live stamp rather than an indicia
Use a type face with a serif like Georgia or Times Roman (this is Georgia)
Make your font a 14 or better
Use YOU/YOUR, not we/our/us. It is all about the DONOR!!!

7. Stories are about emotion.
You want the emotional mind to connect, not the rational mind.

8. Storytelling and other fundraising resources:
This is wonderful conference. This year it in October in Orlando. Josh and I are going.
The speakers are incredible and make themselves available for one-on-one discussions. There are folks from around the world who attend this conference. They also have Monday Movies that cover different aspects of direct mail. These are the same folks who do the Storytelling conferences referenced above, but they have many free resources, too.
Making Money with Donor Newsletters by Tom Ahern
I used the advice in this newsletter and increased my donations during the same period by nearly 25% and saved the cost of printing 4 pages.
Great nuts and bolts descriptions of how to make more from something you’re going to do anyway. The first lesson is that newsletters are not about you. They are about the donor. Pay attention
has some great free resources and paid seminars/webinars. Get on her list.
Donor Voice is another great resource