This is the 198th Fundraising Writing Newsletter. If you find value here, please tell a fundraising friend. (Your fundraising friend can ​subscribe here for free.)​

Wednesday, June 10, 2026

Dear Reader,

Everybody loves a long dog.

Like this:

Right?

And yet, many people flinch at long subject lines.

What? The injustice!

Okay, I get it.

Short subject lines are cute and effective and don't get cut off, even in mobile.

But long subject lines can be cute and effective too, even if they get cut off in mobile...

Short email subject lines are easy to read ... but longer ones can also work if you do this 1 thing

All you need to do is make sure "the good stuff" is before the cutoff.

Where's the cutoff?

It depends on a lot of things including the default font size the reader has selected.

Your first 30 characters are considered safe.

They won't get cut off.

Which means, as long as you include "the good stuff" within the first 30 characters of your email subject line ... then the rest of what you include is gravy (more good stuff).

If you don't have a cuckoo-for-coconuts-long, weiner-dog of a subject line, on the order of this one...

...then some of your donors may be able to read the whole long subject line before deciding whether to click to open.

If you are on a laptop with a small default font, you might have seen this newsletter's full subject line:

But if you are on mobile or you have a large default font, you might have seen this newsletter's subject line shortened as:

Notice how even the shorter version still gives you the gist and is intriguing?

Your best bet is to front load your email subject lines with something interesting enough to pique interest and elicit a click to open, even if the rest of the subject line (which also could be helpful and interesting) gets cut off.

Here's an example of a subject line for an email Brett and I recently wrote for a client (Hope Reins, which helps young people overcome trauma in part by pairing them with a rescued horse that has overcome its own trauma):

On a mobile screen, a donor might see only:

This alone is admittedly confusing ... but it's confusing in a way that Hope Reins donors are likely to find compelling. The truncated subject line here starts with the urgency of a boy in a dire situation. Then it pivots to "a horse"...

A horse?

Huh?

You have to click to open and find out.

And the two words "a horse," even out of context, will be meaningful to any Hope Reins donor. They will feel it.

So think of your email subject lines as "peeling back the curtain" just enough to make your donors want to read more.

The first part of the curtain peeling back (the first 30 characters) should be enticing.

The continued curtain peeling back (the long-dog bonus content) should pile on the enticement.

Try it and let me know if it works for you! 🥰

Randomly yours

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

• Fundraisingly Informative — AI won't fix fundraising. It will simply feed on what's been broken for years by Mark Phillips (a timely, long-dog of a blog post about how AI-generated content floods our digital channels, leading to a tragedy of the commons whose solution includes pivoting to/doubling down on high-quality direct mail fundraising that connects with donors because an actual person wrote it from the heart)​
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• Potentially Useful — Pangram (the first website Brett and I have found that reliably detects whether a piece of writing is AI-generated, human generated, or both (and to what extent); note that if people get in the habit of checking this sort of thing... that may well include checking what you send/share)
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• Honestly Accurate — "So you want to leave and throw away all our stuff?"​ #mothersday (a funny-because-it's-true short video of a young mom giving her family a Powerpoint presentation about what she really wants for Mother's Day, and no, it's not breakfast in bed!)​

Until next time: May you appreciate all the dogs, short and log, and all your fundraising options!

Grateful,

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

PS. Are you ready for a webinar that could help you bring in millions? And will certainly be informative, lively, and fun? I highly recommend this one. Your training will be from world-renowned copywriter Tom Ahern and special unlimited Q&A guest star Professor Russell James. I will be moderating. Brett will be teching behind the scenes. It's in July! Unusual! Plan to bring a festive beverage or two??

It's called: "HOW TO MARKET BEQUESTS:
The Delicate (tho Highly Lucrative)
Art and Science of Asking for that Final Gift"