This is the 183rd Fundraising Writing Newsletter. If you find value here, please tell a fundraising friend. (Your fundraising friend can ​subscribe here for free.)​

Wednesday, November 19, 2025

Hi Reader,

There's something about lining things up.

🚦🚦🚦 When you hit all green lights on your way home.

🦆🦆🦆 When you get all your ducks in a row.

⭐⭐⭐ When the stars align.

It gives you hope.

It makes you feel some kind of way.

And you can use this concept in your fundraising writing:

When everything lines up perfectly, your donors...

...feel it.

Subconsciously, maybe, but they feel it.

And donors who feel more, care more and give more.

That's especially important in the opening "hook" of your appeal letters.

If you can figure out a way to connect something your donors will relate to with the fundraising story around which your appeal is framed, it's worth the extra effort to find a way to "line things up" — like this (from a recent appeal we wrote for a client):

Did you catch that?

I'll "zoom in":

inspiring ... beautiful ... cancer

The first two ideas are relatable to donors. Full-circle moments tend to be inspiring and beautiful. Donors are likely to be giving a mental head nod right about now.

Pairing these two positive words with cancer by lining them up creates a "visual moment" that increases the likelihood donors will continue reading. This is further contrasted by the change in emphasis from italics to underlining. The effect is like an emotional itch that you can scratch only by reading on. And the emphasis (italics and underlining) are further emphasized by the lining up of the emotionally relevant keywords.

It's like when students are all lined up to go to the library. It just feels right.

This approach takes a bit of maneuvering. It's helpful if you think of a persuasive appeal as a puzzle in the first place. Keep moving the puzzle pieces until they fit.

It's very satisfying — for "puzzle builder" YOU and "puzzle viewer" DONORS alike!

Randomly yours

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

• Fundraisingly Informative — 🧠 2 brain biases, 2 clear fixes by Lisa Sargent (a super helpful blog post about avoiding problems that are likely to lower your fundraising results because our brains can be tricky little buggers)
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• Marvelously Blinkered — You are awash in superstimuli. by Duncan Sabien (a perspective-inducing blog post about notions such as "Wars were fought over spices that pale in comparison to what is readily available to most of us at virtually all times"; hold onto your hat)
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• Unmissably Vertiginous — EP1 - You Took Something Away From Me via Beth's Dead (a 32-minute podcast episode that kicks off an astounding mystery; only 4 of 10 episodes are available now, with a new one dropping each week; Brett and I heard them all via Patreon ... and the ending will knock your socks off)

Until next time: May all good things line up for you and your fundraising!

Grateful,

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