Stay human, Reader. We love that about you. Also: this is the 82nd issue of the Fundraising Writing Newsletter. Please forward it as you wish. They can ​subscribe here for free.

In this issue:

• YOU are the fundraising chef ... and AI can be your sous chef 🧑🏽‍🍳
• Randomly yours: to inspire and recharge you

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Hi Reader,

Brett and I have very mixed feelings about AI.

One thing's for sure: it's powerful now ... and it'll only get more powerful. Ignoring AI (in any profession that involves doing work on a computer) seems foolish and futile.

So we are trying to focus on the positive.

One positive: AI can help you get a first draft done fast.

One caveat: Please don't think about AI in terms of results.

It’s all about productivity.

Used properly, AI can super-speed some things up for you.

Your results will depend on what you add to the mix. Your unique perspective, your experience, your you-ness — these are what will bring life to the bones the AI suggests and you rearrange.

I recommend you never use copy generated by AI without recruiting a capable human (you, maybe?) to revise and edit ... to whip that flat, soulless AI-processed copy into a compelling soufflé of humanity and heart.

What you retrieve from the AI oven will always be half-baked and not-human.

You are the secret ingredient!

Still, it's worth learning how to put AI to work. It can be your fancy little helper. Your tireless assistant. Your sous chef.

YOU are the fundraising chef ... and AI can be your sous chef 🧑🏽‍🍳

Caveats and context above ⬆️

(just FYI, in case you skipped right to this section)

What follows is a recipe for those times when you're hankering for a quick appeal letter rough draft to make those empty-page pangs go away...

​Click here or on the screenshot below to view the 4-page document containing all the instructions for rough- drafting your fundraising appeal letter using ChatGPT.

If you try all the prompts in the document linked above and you get good results or you improve the prompts, please reply to this email to share with us the details! 😊

(Of course — good fundraising chef that you are: tweak as you wish...)

Randomly yours: to inspire and recharge you

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

• Fundraisingly Informative — Bring back the indispensable guard book by Ken Burnett — HT: Tom Ahern (a blog post about: the history of keeping guard books to track campaign results, the power of focusing useful, appropriate anger in your fundraising writing, and a case study about how this helped one organization get their fundraising back on track)
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• Audibly Negotiable — Chris Voss: FBI Hostage Negotiator via The Lex Fridman Podcast (a 2-hour, 9-minute podcast episode with plenty of psychological insights that apply to fundraising and life in general)
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• Deliciously Cheesy — Popcorn​ (Dance) by Hot Butter (a 3-minute video of a 1972 instrumental pop hit featuring Moog synthesizers and bad dancing)
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• Disconcertingly Wrong — Astroturfing (a Wikipedia entry about the bogus practice of individuals or organizations trying to influence opinion by fabricating a nonexistent "grassroots" campaign)
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• Culturally Diagnostic — How to Fix the Oscars, Once and for All by Daniel Joyaux (a prescriptive article featuring detailed, bulleted ideas on how to overhaul the annual Academy Awards shows)

Until next time: May you always cook up tasty, nutritious donor comms efficiently — and never leave out of that secret ingredient: you. ❤️

All our best,

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PS: Hey — here's the third in our new weekly video series called Win It in a Minute. You can subscribe here.

In this video, Tom answers the question:

"How do you make your case without sounding like a failing organization?"

Want to become a case writing expert in an afternoon? Register for Tom's March 30th webinar all about "How to Write a Fabulous Case!"

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​PPS: Need help with your donor comms? Book a free call with us. We'd love to talk to you about how we might stir your donors' hearts to action for your good cause.