Why Fundraisers Make The Worst Fundraising Letter Writers

Not long ago, I moved one of my clients almost to the point of hysterics by advising she not have a member of her telephone fundraising staff write the organization’s quarterly fundraising letter.
Before you go thinking I did it to have the project come to me, I assure you that’s not the case. I simply think that most men and women who work at nonprofit institutions are ill-suited for the task.
Of course, this runs counter to a lot of accepted wisdom. After all, the good people who work at any nonprofit already have an intimate understanding of the organization’s goals and needs – something that a copywriter such as myself would need days or weeks to learn. What’s more, by choosing to work or donate their time with that particular cause, they’ve already indicated that they have a level of concern that it would be hard for others to match.
But even bearing those things in mind, I still think my client, and most nonprofit organizations in general, are better off not getting non-writer staff members to work on fundraising materials.
There are a few good reasons: first, most people aren’t great writers. In fact, they don’t even tend to enjoy the activity. More often than not, this leads to problems hitting the right tone, voice, and feel. Even a lot of perfectly articulate professionals struggle with a blank page. So why burden them with the pressure of your most important writing project?
Even more important, however, is the nonprofit mindset. Most people who decide to work in the charitable sector do so because they are fantastic human beings with an innate nature to improve the world around them. That’s a great and wonderful thing, but it doesn’t often lend itself to being persuasive.
In my former career as a sales person and marketing writer, I saw both individuals with no moral compass who could sell just about anything, and right-minded men and women who wouldn’t dream of giving you a bad deal but could barely give products away. What you want is the right mixture – someone who cares passionately about your cause, but can make a persuasive case for people to donate money. Most of the time, that person is going to come from outside your organization’s walls.
It’s unfortunate that nonprofits, usually collections of people working hard to better the lives of many, have to struggle to find funding… but it’s also the reality we are living in. For that reason, the most important quality in any fund raising letter writer is that they can get results, not that they’ve spent ten years with your institution or have a long track record on your Board of Directors.
People who work in the nonprofit field are usually wonderful human beings, but poor fund raising writers. Do yourself and your organization in favor and find the right person for the task.