How to Tell Powerful Stories That Inspire and Motivate Donors to Give — The Real Story You Need to Tell for Year-End Fundraising Success!

Want to do your best at your year-end fundraising? Tell stories! Facts and statistics don’t work to motivate donors. Brilliant arguments don’t work. Super-clear explanations don’t work. If you want people to pay attention to what you’re saying -- and then take the action you want them to take -- you gotta tell a story – especially at the end of the year when donors are getting so many other fundraising messages!

This practical, hands-on nonprofit course will show you how to write a compelling story for fundraising and discover your best fundraising stories to keep donors engaged.  Learn how to connect with donors and tell your stories with grace, drama, and effectiveness!

Your presenter, Jeff Brooks, has been telling fundraising stories for decades. Not only that -- he’s been testing them. He’s found what works and what doesn’t, and he’s ready to tell you!

During This Nonprofit Webinar, You Will Learn:

Why donors give -- and how you can give them what they need

• Donors are seeking personal significance
• Donors want to put their values into action
• 3 types of nonprofit storytelling: bad to great
• Three things you owe every donor

How to tell stories for asking

• The story NOT to tell (that almost everyone tells you is the right story)
• What every donor is waiting to hear
• The balancing act between complacency and skepticism

How to tell stories for thanking and reporting back

• Four things donors need to hear from charities (that they rarely hear)
• How your acknowledgments can help build your long-term relationships with donors
• Three steps that will make your newsletter the best part of your fundraising program

Writing tips for vivid and effective stories

• The most important word in the storyteller’s dictionary
• Three ways to put the donor in every story (and two ways to keep them out)
• The magic of mirror neurons to pull your donor into any story you tell.

You’ll Get These BONUS Materials:

1. Outline of a successful story-based fundraising message
2. Outline of a successful newsletter story
3. Prompts to help you get your story started
4. Where’s the puppy? -- reminder poster for storytellers
5. The Webinar Slides
6. The Webinar Recording

About Your Topic Expert:

Jeff is specifically qualified to teach this webinar because:

1. Has been writing fundraising for more than 30 years: newsletters, direct mail, digital, broadcast ...
2. Was part of the team that researched and refined the first true donor newsletters back in the 1990s. Ask about the “Domain Formula.”
3. Has written and directed a lot of Donor Newsletters – there was a 10-year period when he wrote about three newsletters per week, every week. 
4. Is the author of 3 books on fundraising, Including The Fundraiser’s Guide to Irresistible Communications

Jeff Brooks has served the nonprofit community for nearly 30 years, working as a writer and creative director on behalf of large and small nonprofits, including CARE, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, World Vision, Feeding America, Project HOPE, and dozens of urban rescue missions and Salvation Army divisions.  He has planned and executed hundreds of campaigns in direct mail, print, radio, the internet, and other media that have motivated millions of donors to help make the world a better place.  

He blogs at futurefundraisingnow.com, and is the author of three books: The Fundraiser's Guide to Irresistible Communications, The Money-Raising Nonprofit Brand, and How to Turn Your Words into Money. He lives in Seattle.