This is the 196th Fundraising Writing Newsletter. If you find value here, please tell a fundraising friend. (Your fundraising friend can ​subscribe here for free.)​

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Hi Reader,

You know how sometimes you have to learn the rules, then learn when it's better to break them?

Like when you're told in school never to write a sentence fragment. Come to find out, that's only for formal writing. It's often better to sound natural and authentic, and doing that means writing how people talk, including in fragments.

It's the same kind of thing with the "rule" about telling the "before" part of a fundraising story in an appeal and saving the "after" part for the newsletter.

That's a good rule, generally.

Before-&-after is a timeless and effective approach.

But also effective is the lesser known rule-breaking format I'm calling before/after/before-&-after.

Have you tried this?

I recommend it. We've used it many times in successful client appeals.

You can also tell "before/after/before-&-after" fundraising stories

The traditional before-&-after approach tells the fundraising story of need and urgency in the appeal, then saves the fundraising story of impact for the newsletter. Like this.

But the before/after/before-&-after approach is trickier.

Below is one example we wrote for a client.

(You can read the whole direct mail appeal letter here.)

BEFORE

Tell some of the fundraising story of urgency and need.

AFTER

Tell some of the fundraising story of impact.

BEFORE

Tell more of the fundraising story of urgency and need. (You can stay focused on the same person or you can shift here to others like them who are in need right now.)

Note that, with this approach, you should typically aim for 80-90% need and urgency from the BEFORE story and 10-20% impact for the (partial) AFTER story.

Some orgs, such as arts organizations, may well include more impact in an appeal letter, because the "problem" they address is fundamentally different from service orgs.

AFTER

Finally, share the final impact update in your newsletter and/or thank-you. As always, your newsletters and thank-yous collectively serve as a "bookend" that marks the satisfying conclusion of impact bringing everything full circle.

Randomly yours

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

• Fundraisingly Informative — The Massive, Untapped Power of In-Memory Giving (and 7 Ways You Can Embrace It Now) by Lisa Sargent (a super helpful newsletter post about how and why to include in-memory gifts; for example, because 40% of legacy donors first gave an in-memory gift)​
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• Scientifically Frustating — Scientific Briefing by xkcd (a 4-panel line-drawing comic strip about what often happens when scientists warn what will happen if nothing is done to remedy a dire trend)
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• Smartly Startling — The Most Important Charts In The World by Zvi Mowshowitz (a fascinating Substack post featuring amazing charts on topics such as AI, poverty, child mortality, world energy consumption, fertility ... and much more)​

Until next time: May you always respect the tried-and-true ... as well as the potential of the new!

Grateful,

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

PS: Are you looking for copywriting or design (or both!) for an upcoming donor comms project (e.g., an appeal, newsletter, impact report, case for support, or email series)? Or maybe you want to get a jump on your year-end fundraising? Book a free 30-minute call. We'd love to chat with you.