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Here are the number one, absolute essentials for writing a hard-hitting successful appeal:

1.  Use I and you words.  Keep it personal. Keep it between you and me. Make it intimate.

2.  Give them detail regarding what exactly you need and exactly how the money will be used.

3.  Show how the money will make an immediate and lasting difference.

OK – an  example:  a ballet company can write and ask for:

1. general support, OR

2. Help us pay our dancers; they make less than $xx/year and can’t even afford xxx.  If we can reach our goal to cover our dancers’ salaries, we’ll be able to (do this, and this and this)  and with more dancers, we can stage the ballets you know and love. Without enough dancers we’ll have  to eliminate dances from our repertoire.

Another example: A community college program helps foster youth when they transition out of the social services program to go on their own:

You can ask for a gift to “fund the foster youth program,” or

• $25k to expand the program, employ another coach/social worker, and bring in an additional 20 kids into the program. These kids are much more 40% likely to become incarcerated or pregnant than others of their age group.  Helping them transition to college gives them a new hope for the future. And they return as coaches to inspire the foster kids currently  in high school who may be thinking about dropping out.

You tell me which type of appeal works!

Today’s Chronicle of Philanthropy identified 10 trends that are a bit unnerving.  These are outside forces that are making life a challenge to put it lightly for anyone trying to carry out a nonprofit mission.

These trends are worrisome at best. They point out warning signs and potholes on the road to a nonprofit’s success.

I’d much rather see the pundits give us some good news coming down the pike for 2010.  Listen, I’m the eternal optimist.  There’s got to be a way to find something to be hopeful about! : )

Here are the trends that the Chronicle has pointed out:

10 Trends – Emerging Forces for 2010

1) Governments in Crisis – this means that we won’t be seeing grants and support from the governmental sector come back anytime soon. Let’s just hope that your nonprofit has not over-relied on government support!

2) Strains in the Safety Net – yes, this is troubling. Nonprofits are being asked to fill the gaps in the safety net. Can they do it?

3) A Full-Court Press for Modest Gifts – the mega gifts are really declining. And smart organizations are focusing on smaller gifts from generous donors.

4) Grim Grants Outlook – since foundations’ endowments lost so much in the stock market, the funds available for grantees has shrunk considerably for 2010.

5) A Weakened Charity Work Force – ok, so there have been alot of layoffs in our sector and people are straining to do more with less. We can handle it temporarily until things bounce back.

6) A Sharpened Eye on Charity Pay – oversight, transparency, scruitiny – it’s all there when examining nonprofit perks!

7) Rising Donor-Charity Tensions – donors are asking for more and more. They want to be able to control their gifts in ways we haven’t seen before.

Proving That Charity Works – outcomes, results, impact. That’s what everybody wants from us.

9) Volunteerism Becomes Cool – here’s a bright spot. Helping others is now the new cool. Yes!

10) A Stalled Online Revolution – I don’t agree with this one. The online world offers nonprofits incredible tools. We just need to learn how to use it.

I don’t want to hear words like: grim, stalled, weakened, tensions, strains and crisis, I am currently overdosed on the dark side.

Let’s look at the opportunities for us all – even in the midst of a challenging year. Last year, I published “7 Reasons for Fundraisers to be Optimistic in 09″ in the international AFP newsletter. I promise you that I’ll create an even longer list for 2010!

Why do you need a tagline?

It is your best chance to zap someone with a strong, clear, concise comment about your impact in the world. (And remember, of course, we are always taking about our impact, not “what we do.”)

I love taglines. I always tell my clients and nonprofit friends that they need a really great tagline, if they don’t have one already.

There’s been lots of talk lately about Getting Attention blogger Nancy Schwartz, who announced the 2009 winners of her annual “Nonprofit Taglines Awards” competition in late October. She had more than 4,800 nonprofit professionals to vote on sixty finalists from 1,702 entries.

Says Nancy: “The awards program is designed to encourage nonprofits to effectively use taglines, a high-impact, low-cost marketing tactic often overlooked or under-emphasized by nonprofits. A nonprofit’s tagline is hands down the briefest, easiest and most effective way to communicate your organization’s identity.”

Here the 2009 winners – and I am quoting directly from her blog post on this – PLEASE check out her writings – she is incredible!

Arts & Culture: Big Sky. Big Land. Big History. — Montana Historical Society
The Montana Historical Society takes its state’s most elemental and distinctive characteristics (Big Sky, Big Land ) and deftly melds them with its mission in a way that generates excitement. The result is a tagline with punch and focus. And a big hit with voters.

Associations: Building community deep in the hearts of Texans —TexasNonprofits
TexasNonprofits’ tagline tweaks the title of an iconic American popular song from the 1940s and brilliantly connects it to the spirit, passion and mission of the state’s citizenry. A great example of how word play works in a tagline.

Civic Benefit: Holding Power Accountable — Common Cause
Common Cause’s tagline leaves no doubt about the organization’s mission, unique value and commitment. It’s definitive, with a powerful economy of words. An excellent example of the tagline clarifying the nonprofit’s focus, when the organization’s name alone doesn’t do so.

Education: A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste® — UNCF -The United Negro College Fund
This 38-year-old tagline from UNCF still rings strong. It elegantly delivers its straight up, powerful message. When your tagline is the boiled-down essence of your argument for support, you’ve achieved tagline bliss. That’s why this one is a classic.

Environment & Animals: Because the earth needs a good lawyer — Earthjustice
Earthjustice capitalizes on what people do understand – that a lawyer protects rights – and uses that framework to dramatically position its role and impact in the environmental movement. And it does so with humor. If your tagline makes people smile or light up, without stepping on your message, then you’ve made an emotional connection…Bravo.

Grantmaking: If you want to be remembered, do something memorable. — The Cleveland Foundation
It’s a rare tagline that manages to recruit people to its cause both unabashedly and effectively. That’s exactly what The Cleveland Foundation pulls off here. Clear, concise, and…memorable! A model for any organization promoting philanthropy.

Health & Sciences: Finding a cure now…so our daughters won’t have to. © — PA Breast Cancer Coalition
The PA Breast Cancer Coalition’s tagline is both emphatic and poignant. It strikes a deep emotional chord, and conveys the focus and impact of its work without being overly sentimental. “Finding a cure,” a highly used phrase for health organizations, is bolstered here by the appeal to solve a problem now so future generations won’t suffer from it.

Human Services: Filling pantries. Filling lives. — Houston Food Bank
With simple but effective use of word repetition, the Houston Food Bank clarifies its work and impact. It delivers on two distinct levels—the literal act of putting food on people’s shelves and the emotional payoff to donors and volunteers. An excellent example of a mission-driven tagline.

International, Foreign Affairs & National Security: Send a Net. Save a Life. — Nothing But Nets
Short, punchy and laser-sharp, the Nothing But Nets tagline connects the action with the outcome. It’s inspirational in the simplicity of its message and its reason for existing. The kind of tagline nonprofits should model.

Jobs & Workforce Development: Nothing Stops A Bullet Like A Job — Homeboy Industries
Homeboy Industries’ tagline is a mini-masterpiece, telling a memorable story in just six words. It stops you in your tracks, makes you want to learn more and sticks with you afterwards. That’s the kind of potent nonprofit messaging every organization desires.

Media: Telling stories that make a difference — Barefoot Workshops
If your organization’s name is vague, it’s critical that your tagline be distinct. Barefoot Workshops’ tagline sums up the transformative power of stories to create change in people and their communities, so clarifying the organization’s focus. Saved by the tagline!

Religion & Spiritual Development: Open hearts. Open minds. Open doors. — The people of The United Methodist Church
The work of religious organizations often operates on several planes at once — a challenge for any organization and its messaging. Here, The United Methodist Church delivers a tagline trinity that supports its applied faith mission and is warm, enthusiastic and embracing.

Other: A head for business. A heart for the world. — SIFE (Students In Free Enterprise)
If an organization’s identity contains within in it a distinct contrast between its key characteristics, that’s often good tagline material. Here, SIFE surprises with its crystal-clear tagline that conveys not only what’s unique about it but also capitalizes on the contrast between profit and compassion.

I am teaching today in Greensboro, NC at the AFP CFRE Review Course and the AFP First Course in Fundraising.  As usual, they have me talking about managing and motivating volunteers and board members.

In my last class, we had such a laugh over “Boards Gone Wild.“  What do I mean?

A Board Gone Wild is a well-meaning group of volunteers who gallop off in the wrong direction.  It’s the wrong direction because the plan or project they are espousing is not well-planned, not well-thought out, has unintended negative consequences, and cannot be pulled off with the current staff and human resources on hand.

Here’s a typical example: Board members are desperate for easy fundraising short cuts.  Board member Bob recalls a golf tournament that made over $75,000.  (He never saw all the back end work that made it happen – he just saw a seamless event on the day of.)

Other board members grab on to the idea. To them this seems like an easy way out.  Let’s do a golf tournament!  No matter that we will need to pull it off within a six week time frame, leaving little time to solicit sponsors.  Not a problem!

If we can’t do it then the staff can help, right? No matter if it’s not in our fundraising plan, we can heap additional stuff on our already overworked staff easily. No matter if they will have to bail out our non-performing volunteer group at the last minute.  No matter if all our major donors have already been solicited recently, we can always go back to them.  And on and on.

Meanwhile the staff has fainted.  They  know what the fundraising plan is for the year and it sure doesn’t call for a golf tournament. They know that golf tournaments, of all things, require an enormous commitment of organizational time and energy to be successful.

The staff is trying to speak up but they are brushed off in the wake of the board galloping down the road to a possible disaster.    Can this board be saved???

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not picking on golf tournaments.  In fact, they are excellent fundraising tools when planned for properly and when supported with appropriate staff and volunteer energy. They are just the example I am using.

There are many examples of Boards Gone Wild.  It could be a pancake supper (groan), a new staff member or fundraising consultant who will be the silver bullet, something called “grantwriting” that will be the magic solution to all the organization’s challenges.

What’s YOUR EXAMPLE of a Board Gone Wild?

Come on and share your own experience!

Annual Giving: Overhaul Your Fundraising Program

What would it take to double your annual fundraising results? Our team can apply best practices to all areas of your annual fund, including direct mail, thank-you processes, events, data base management, corporate sponsorships, grants, and on-line fundraising.  And, we bring board members into the fundraising process to make them full partners in your fund development program. You emerge with a more powerful fundraising program and active buy-in from your board that will raise much more money.

Major Gifts: Going for the Gold

Don’t leave money on the table every year because you don’t have a Major Gifts program. Every organization should, at all times, have 10-20 prospects they are cultivating for a major gift. Our team can help you identify your foremost prospects, and craft cultivation strategies to bring them closer to your organization. Best of all, we can engage your board members as ambassadors to nurture long-term relationships with your prospects.