Seeing Through a Donor's Eyes

Seeing Through a Donor's Eyes
How to Make a Persuasive Case for Everything from Your Annual Drive to Your Planned Giving Program to Your Capital Campaign

by Tom Ahern, 167 pp.

You already know the most valuable trait for a successful fundraiser - integrity. But the second one would have to be persuasiveness, would it not? Whether in writing, in person, or on the phone, you are constantly making the case for your project or your organization.

And helping you hone your persuasive skills is at the heart of Tom Ahern’s book, Seeing Through a Donor’s Eyes. Ask Tom why he wrote the book and he’ll tell you this. Too many fundraisers – both verbally and in writing – fall flat when asked the question: Why should I support you?  They stammer, equivocate, lapse into jargon – they do everything but make a convincing case for the would-be donor.

If that describes you, then your capital campaign, annual drive, planned giving program, even your website is raising far less than it could if you adopted Tom’s field-tested advice for selling your mission and vision.

 

Table of Contents

1.   Do you need this book?
2.   And if you are in a capital campaign
3.   Types of cases: A shopping guide
4.   Why you matter to donors
5.   Writing a fabulous case is easy
6.   The case writing process: An overview
7.   Day 1: Gather your pile of information
8.   Also on Day 1: Decide about interviews
9.   Day 2: Conduct your interviews
10.   What kinds of interview questions
11.   Day 3: Skim the cream
12.   Wanted: Emotional triggers and benefits
13.   Day 4: The internal case emerges
14.   Day 5: Start writing
15.   What do we call it?
16.   The marketing brief: Your skeleton
17.   Writing ills? The doctor is in
18.   Telling your story (1)    
19.   Telling your story (2)
20.   Telling your story (3)
21.   Telling your story (4)  
22.   Prepare to be browsed
23.   Make your case bigger than you
24.   Put it in a nutshell, too  
25.   Take your prospect on a verbal tour    
26.   How you say things does matter
27.   The cherry on top
28.   The call to action
29.   The role of visuals
30.   “I’ll know a great case when I see it”  
31.   Reality check   

Make fundraising easier for yourself.  Buy this book today.  

About the Author

Tom Ahern is recognized as one of North America’s top authorities on nonprofit communications. He began presenting his top-rated Love Thy Reader workshops at fundraising conferences in 1999.

Since then he has introduced thousands of fundraisers in the U.S., Canada and Europe to the principles of reader psychology, writing, and graphic design that make donor communications highly engaging and successful.

He founded his consulting practice in 1990 (www.aherncomm.com). His firm specializes in capital campaign case statements, nonprofit communications audits, direct mail, and donor newsletters. His efforts have won three prestigious IABC Gold Quill awards, given each year to the best communications work worldwide.

Ahern is also an award-winning magazine journalist, for articles on health and social justice issues. He has his MA and BA in English from Brown University, and a Certificate in Advertising Art from the RI School of Design. His offices are in Rhode Island and France.