This is the 205th Fundraising Writing Newsletter. If you find value here, please tell a fundraising friend. (Your fundraising friend can subscribe here for free.)

Wednesday, September 16, 2026

Hi Reader,

When I was 9 years old, the tv show Cheers came out.

It's about a local bar "where everyone knows your name."

GIF of the tv show Cheers, when George Wendt walks in and everyone shouts "Norm!"

I hope you have a place like this near you.

We do, thankfully, right down the street.

It's a dive bar called Kross Inn.

No one there shouts "BRETT AND JULIE!" ... but the woman behind the bar who also is the waitress knows what we like to drink and always says hello and confirms with us, "Diet Coke and mini pitcher of Hamm's?" as we enter.

It's really nice!

This is the magic of local.

And:

For fundraising, "being local is a super-power" ... and there are many ways you can be "local"

Last week, when I was moderating an appeal writing webinar featuring Tom Ahern and Jeff Brooks, one topic stood out from all others during the Q&A session.

All because of this slide from Tom's training session:

Screenshot of fundraiser Denisa Casement saying "Being local is a super-power. Don't forget that."

Here's how I introduced the topic during the webinar:

I’m calling this next section “Being Local Is a Superpower,” because there were, I don’t know, four or five people asking about the same question.

And Tom answered:

Local is not necessarily your own backyard, you know, geographically. Local is whatever’s in your heart.

To which Jeff replied:

I had a client years back. It was an international poverty-fighting organization. Their control in acquisition for many years was “Join the Seattle-area campaign to help hungry children,” or whatever it was. There’s no reason that the donor’s city name was actually relevant, except to each donor. I mean, there wasn’t some kind of committee in Seattle or any particular town. You’re just saying, “Hey, be one of the cool people in Seattle that cares about this.” And it worked amazingly.

We call that localization. If you’re a potential donor and you live in that town, you say, “Oh, I am one of those people who lives in this town.”

And Jeff added later:

Meals on Wheels organizations are always local. We did an appeal last year where we basically said, “Here’s how many people in your zip code are on Meals on Wheels service, and here’s how many are on the waiting list in your zip code.”

And it worked amazingly. It kind of broke through. I mean, they do well in fundraising all the time. It’s a great offer. But that sort of high level of localization really worked well.

Then I read aloud a similar question:

“If we work for a global organization that’s not local, how do we overcome the local-as-a-superpower challenge?”

(E.g., "When you work for a university foundation, being local could become tricky, because we have alumni from everywhere in the state, province, country, and around the world.”)

Which Tom answered:

You go to a university, a college, let’s say a four-year. That is a big chunk of your life at the very moment when you’re converting from childhood to adulthood, and you’re going to have all sorts of unforgettable memories from that period. That’s your local. You know, the campus is your local.

And Jeff wrapped up:

I always say, “Hey, if we’re going to tell a story about somebody in need, talk about what neighborhood they live in. Name their employer, if it’s a well-known employer. Talk about the bridge they live under, because they’re homeless.”

It’s like, just tell the story the way you would tell it to your next-door neighbor, which would include those real, specific local details.

So, two questions to ask yourself are:

How are we "local" to our donors?

How does what we do speak to a donor's identity?

Then lean into your local.

It's your super-power.

Randomly yours

GIF of a bunny rabbit moving its ears from side to side

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

Fundraisingly Informative — Is “newsletter” the most dangerous word in fundraising? by Jeff Brooks (a blog post that could save you a lot of money in donations-not-lost; simply change the word "newsletter" to "impact report" or similar if your marketing and comms departments think "newsletter" means it's for them — it's not)
Opportunistically Modern — I don't think this AI interview went well via graham.zip (an Instagram video in which a man talks to an AI avatar for a job interview over Zoom, but he doesn't really want the job ... he wants to see what the AI says back to him when he feeds it a bunch of nonsense)
Adorably Absurd — It's been a minute since we set off this #firework (an Instagram video featuring a woman on guitar singing Katy Perry's "Firework," with impressive backing vocals from her little dog)

Until next time: May you never forget that when you are in a donor's heart, you are "local" to them ... a super-power you should use as often as possible!

Grateful,

Julie Cooper & Brett Cooper
Fundraising Copywriters
FundraisingWriting.com
Fundraising Copywriting & Design
100% human, thank you very much.

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For fundraising, "being local is a super-power" ... and there are many ways you can be "local"

For fundraising, "being local is a super-power" ... and there are many ways you can be "local"

Randomly yours

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A fundraising story is like a baby ... or an egg

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