This week's newsletter is courtesy of the Department of Choreography and Merriment. This is the 165th Fundraising Writing Newsletter. If you find value here, please tell a fundraising friend. (Your fundraising friend can ​subscribe here for free.)​

In this issue:

✅ Has your fundraising brain been "Severed"? (I hope not!)

✅ TOMORROW (1 day only this year)

✅ Randomly yours: to inspire and recharge you

Wednesday, March 26, 2025
​

Hi Reader,

No worries, no spoilers —

And you don't need to know a thing about Severance, one of my all-time favorite shows...

But after Brett and I watched the Season 2 finale on Friday, I have some thoughts I think apply to all fundraisers, Severance superfans and abstainers alike.

Has your fundraising brain been "Severed"? (I hope not!)

Let's start with some basics — only the kind of thing you'd learn about the show from a 2-minute trailer:

In Severance, there's a company called Lumon that invented a procedure called "severance." If you choose to become "severed," you undergo an operation where a device is implanted in your brain.

The device makes it so you have two identities: one for work and one for everything else. Your self at work is called your "innie" and your self outside of work is called your "outie."

You switch from your innie to your outie in the elevator, as you arrive to and leave work.

It's like corporate Vegas.

What happens at work, stays at work.

Your outie won't remember a thing about what you did on the job, and your innie won't remember a thing about what you did in your personal life.

In the world of the show, severance is a nifty metaphor for issues around corporate culture and work-life balance.

In the world of fundraising, severance is an apt metaphor for what can go wrong with your donor comms.

If you answer YES to any of the following questions, your fundraising brain may have been "Severed":

1. Do you write donor communications that don't sound anything like how you'd talk to someone you care about face-to-face?
   ​
2. When you sit down to write an appeal, do you suddenly become a completely different person who uses phrases like "we humbly request your generous contribution at this critical time"?
   ​
3. Does your organization talk about "your impact" in thank-you messages but switch to "our programs" and "our work" when asking for the next gift?
   ​
4. Have you ever thought, "I know this language is stuffy and formal, but that's just how fundraising is supposed to sound"?
   ​
5. Do you find yourself having to "switch modes" between talking about your mission with passion and writing fundraising copy?
   ​
6. Do you make your organization the hero of the story rather than showing how your donors (your audience here) are instrumental in making the transformation possible?

Just like the severed employees at Lumon, many fundraisers experience a disconnect between who they really are and the voice they use when communicating with donors.

The Dangers of "Severance" in Fundraising

When your fundraising brain is "severed," strange things happen:

☹️ You trade your authentic passion for your mission in for formulaic, stilted language that creates distance instead of connection. Your donors can feel that distance. Not good.
​

☹️ You start thinking of fundraising as something separate from – or worse, in conflict with – your mission work.
​

☹️ You miss opportunities to create deep, lasting relationships with like-minded, caring, complex people who are more like you than you may realize.
​

Good news: unlike the characters on Severance, you don't need brain surgery to reintegrate your fundraising brain!

Instead:

🙌 Remember: donors are people too. They are not walking wallets. They are not data points in your CRM. They are individuals who care deeply about your cause, just as you do, often for deeply personal reasons.

🙌 Write like you talk. If you wouldn't say it in conversation, don't write it in your appeals or stewardship pieces. -- Don't be like Mr. Milchick, who uses "too many big words."

🙌 Make sure you're feeling it so your donors can too. Fundraising is not about manipulating emotions, it's about sharing them fully. Your genuine passion for your mission is contagious.

Your donors want to feel connected: to your cause, to the people you serve, to the solutions they're helping create. When your fundraising voice is integrated with your authentic self, that connection happens naturally.

So please take a cue from the characters on Severance. Bring your whole brain, your whole heart, and your whole self to all your fundraising communications.

Your donors and your results will thank you.

TOMORROW (1 day only this year)

If your donor newsletters are not yet where you know they deserve to be, join me (your moderator), fundraising legend Tom Ahern and Lisa Sargent during the bottomless Q&A session!) for this once-in-2025 webinar:

​Retention’s Best Friend​: Donor Newsletters & Other Irresistible Thank-Yous​

Imagine your newsletter not just informing donors, but igniting loyalty and driving 317% more revenue — as it did for a Catholic diocese. Or generating $2M annually for a homeless shelter. These aren’t flukes. Tom will show you exactly how to transform your newsletter into a donor-centric powerhouse, using proven strategies that boost retention, harvest gifts, and skyrocket lifetime value.

In just 1.5 hours (not counting the Q&A session, which often lasts another 2-3 hours, depending on audience questions), you’ll learn:​
​

• How "extreme donor-centricity" helped a prison ministry increase giving by 521%
  ​
• Why pairing print newsletters with email companions works (hint: it’s science, not guesswork)
  ​
• How you can apply Lisa Sargent’s secrets for gratitude (from her excellent new book, Thankology) to keep donors hooked

Plus: Real case studies, dozens of new examples, CFRE credits (1.5 points), and our "All-You-Can-Eat Q&A".

Are you unable to attend live?

No worries! You’ll get the full video recording + slides within 24 hours of the webinar's ending.

Why act now?​
→ There'll be just one Ahern webinar like this in 2025.
→ Your $129 investment could make a million-dollar difference for you and your cause.
→ Your org deserves better than "good enough."

Randomly yours: to inspire and recharge you

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

• Fundraisingly Informative — Donor Love Series: Part Three - Isn’t loving your donors just fancy personalisation and segmentation? by June Steward (a thought-provoking article about Philanthropic Psychology and how it can prevent toxic donor relationships built on leveraging donor guilt rather than promoting donor wellbeing)​
  ​
• Automagically Stifling — Avoiding the Automation of your Heart​ by Gurwinder (a timely dialogue between two highly thoughtful Substack writers about a number of modern problems including the dangers of letting AI think for you)​
  ​
• Officially Adorable — As someone that loves "The Office" this is just amazing to see. Absolutely stunning. via Chubby (an irresistible 45-second video of what each main character from The Office might look like as a baby)

Until next time: May you always bring your whole, "unsevered" self to your donor comms, with the same passion that made you join your cause in the first place.

With gratitude,
Julie Cooper & Brett Cooper

​

P.S. Did someone forward you this newsletter? Click here to sign up for your own free weekly subscription.
​