Life is better when shared. This is the 169th Fundraising Writing Newsletter. If you find value here, please tell a fundraising friend. (Your fundraising friend can ​subscribe here for free.)​

Wednesday, May 7, 2025

Hi Reader,

On Saturday, Brett and I will be headed to the UK.

We're so excited.

It's my first time out of North America, and Brett's first time returning to Bath, England, since he studied there for a semester in 1992.

We will end our trip in Dublin, where I'll be presenting with Jeff Brooks at The Fundraising Summer School.

My session with Jeff, called From Rubbish to Rescue to Relationship: Fundraising Storytelling Reconsidered, will dive into Philanthropic Psychology principles to challenge the status quo.

In one sense, “rescue fundraising" works. It raises money. But it focuses only on compassionate love.

Compassionate love is not quite as powerful as companionate love, which is the kind of connection you have with family or close friends.

Here's one tip for you from our presentation:

Invoke our shared humanity.

1 thing we all share 🧑‍🤝‍🧑

Invoking our shared humanity means grounding your story in emotions every person is intimately familiar with. Feelings such as fear, grief, hope, joy, love, and loneliness.
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In fundraising, when a donor recognizes in someone else's story a feeling they’ve felt deeply, they can feel the urgency of the need. This makes them more likely to give... and to develop a sense of relationship with your organization.
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Bonus: you don’t need to do much explaining.
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It's like you're "holding up a mirror" to the donor so they can feel what they've felt before and associate those feelings with your fundraising story.

Take the following opening line from a fundraising appeal letter written by Beth Beall, Executive Director at Vida Joven Foundation:

This approach works because it taps into something much deeper than pity. It taps into shared humanity.

The donor is not just helping a stranger. They’re feeling something they've felt before, that resonates with them, that's relevant to them. That feeling makes them identify with your fundraising story in a personal way.

That’s how you foster companionate love.

From our shared humanity, family. 💛

Poll results

Last week, Brett wrote about his concerns of an imminent AI backlash and included the poll question "Does your org have an AI policy?"

Here are the results, for those keeping score:

Again, our takeaway is:

No one knows what's coming in the wake of AI as it progresses faster than and different from any previous tech. Or what precautionary steps ought to be taken.

But perhaps forewarned is forearmed.

And perhaps an AI policy for your org is in order.

If you've created an AI policy and don't mind sharing what you learned in the process, please reply to this email. We'd love to pass it along to our readers.

Randomly yours: to inspire and recharge you

For your brain, heart, and funny bone...

• Fundraisingly Informative — Loyalty Letter: ✏️ Sharpen your writing by Lisa Sargent (a thought-provoking piece in which Lisa highlights "5 craft moves you can steal from great writers," including "from Robert McKee: front-load the good stuff")
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• Easily Effective — For Less Anxiety and More Life, Treat Your To-Do List Like a Diner Menu by Oliver Burkeman (a guest post shared via Tim Ferriss, about managing life well by not micromanaging yourself)
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• Classically Reimagined — The Four Seasons via Netflix (a 2-minute trailer of the highly watchable new Netflix limited dramedy series that remakes Alan Alda's titular 1980 film, this new version starring Tina Fey, Steve Carrell, and Will Forte, among others)

Until next time: May you move past rubbish and rescue to relationship, where our shared humanity reminds us we're alive, we feel it, and we want to give back!

Grateful,

PS: On May 29th at 1:00pm ET, I'll be moderating Tom Ahern's webinar "Writing Your Case for Support (with a mini tour of annual reports)" featuring John Lepp in our unlimited Q&A session. It's well worth your time and investment! I hope you'll join me!!