The Misconception: You do nice things for the people you like and bad things to the people you hate.

The Truth: You grow to like people for whom you do nice things and hate people you harm.

In a nutshell: Ben Franklin had a guy he wanted to convince to like him. He asked to borrow a book from this guy, and then the guy lent him the book, and afterwards was his staunchest ally. Why? Because in this guy’s mind, he didn’t like Ben Franklin, but then he did something nice for him, so it created the cognitive dissonance that made him think, “okay, I did something nice for Ben Franklin, I must like him.” It’s crazy I know, but that’s how it works.

According to David McRaney,

“That’s the cycle of cognitive dissonance, a painful confusion about who you are gets resolved by seeing the world in a more satisfying way. As Festinger said, you make “your view of the world fit with how you feel or what you’ve done.” When you feel anxiety over your actions, you will seek to lower the anxiety by creating a fantasy world in which your anxiety can’t exist, and then you come to believe the fantasy is reality just as Benjamin Franklin’s rival did. He couldn’t possibly have lent a rare book to a guy he didn’t like, so he must actually like him. Problem solved.”

Believe it or not, this leads to a larger point which is that your personality is not fixed. It’s mutable. That means that you believe how you act is who you are, not the other way around. Let me say it a different way.

When you are nice to people, over and over again, that becomes how you identify.
When you are mean to people, over and over again, that becomes who you are.

So your behavior creates your personality, not the other way around.

This is how people who have drank and smoked for the last 10 years can and do turn it around and drop the bad habits and decide to start running marathons and eating salads every day.

Let’s take another, more complex example. Me. I started out being kind of a fey teenager who liked to sing songs in the woods and run around in a poet’s shirt, pressing flowers, writing in her journal, dancing ballet, reading poetry and fantasy. I also liked playing the piano. I had no idea what I wanted to do when I grew up but I definitely knew I wanted to have a loft with big sunny windows and hardwood floors and talk with my friends on the phone. After college I started casting around for something to do. I didn’t have a model to fit into, and I felt aimless, drifting with no model to follow. I temped, and did a variety of jobs in America and overseas.

When I came back to America I started working in the nonprofit world. It was not terribly rewarding. I knew so little. I started studying and getting gigs and then jobs in the sector. My persona became fundraising professional. That meant I was the money person. I had to be the one with the answers. I had to be type A and organized. Goodbye Poet, Hello Capitalist!

Then after I got fired from a nonprofit job, I had to re-evaluate how much I was identified with the job, or how much I was identified with fundraising, and maybe… how much I wanted to stay in the sector at all. I did think, “Well, it would be a shame to let all of this fundraising knowledge I’ve collected go to waste, so I think I’ll put it all in this book.” And I did start to blog to promote my book, because some agents at a writer’s conference told me that was what I had to do if I wanted to be considered by a publisher.

So in 2009 I became a fundraising blogger, and because I like to eat, I became an entrepreneur as well. My new activities and mindset dictated my personality again. I became…different. Since it’s still happening it’s hard to explain but I don’t identify as a fundraising executive anymore. I don’t feel loyalty to any one nonprofit. I feel like someone who values freedom over a paycheck because that’s what I’ve done for so long.

Fundraising Meetup was a blast!

I’ve become a freedom lover. I do help other people get jobs and don’t try to talk them out of going to look for work, because I know entrepreneurship is not for everyone. And I’ve realized that I like to be around people who have that entrepreneurial spark in them (which is most fundraising people!). I like people who have a rich inner world, who love freedom too. And I love to make things with them.

I’ve also become much more principled, because as I’ve blogged, I’ve been able to clarify my values much more, and because I have multiple streams of income, not had to compromise my values for any particular client.

I’ve become an avid experimenter. As I’ve become a product creator, marketer and entrepreneur. So because of this, I work til I drop, and deal with conditions I would never take from a job, because I find it rewarding to be so resourceful, to make a living with my hands and my brain, since not everything I do works out. But when it does, I’m excited enough by this success to keep working at it.

I’ve become a know-it-all. Or, if you like, a public intellectual. I’ve channelled my voracious reading into helping others. Now I read a lot of fundraising books, business books, marketing books, neuroscience books, and write about it here, to show people new ideas that might help them.

So suddenly I’m a public intellectual and nonprofit journalist, without ever really setting out to be that.

McRaney continues, The Benjamin Franklin Effect is the result of your concept of self coming under attack. Every person develops a persona, and that persona persists because inconsistencies in your personal narrative get rewritten, redacted and misinterpreted.

So when you start to be that person that gets up every morning for a jog, and then you keep doing it, and start to hang out with people who jog as well, over time, you become a jogger, and your personality grows to fit this. It’s difficult, but you have to create in your mind reasons why you do this. And the reason becomes, “Because I’m a jogger and I want to be healthy” or “Because if I wasn’t a jogger, I wouldn’t know who I was.”

This can also work in the negative sense, of course.

McRaney says, “Notice when a painful initiation leads to irrational devotion, or when unsatisfying jobs start to seem worthwhile. Remind yourself pledges and promises have power, as do uniforms and parades.

This means that when frats have long, painful initiation periods, they become identified with their frat and will do just about anything to fit in and be a part of it. Which leads to good corporate drones, who give away their moral autonomy for the good of the larger group. Corporations like to recruit people right out of frats. And indeed, one of my brothers was so identified with his frat that he went back year after year, after college, to go to the commencement of his frat brothers, and he had a long-term girlfriend after college from his frat.

McRaney concludes: “Remember in the absence of extrinsic rewards you will seek out or create intrinsic ones. Take into account the higher the price you pay for your decisions the more you value them. See that ambivalence becomes certainty with time. Realize lukewarm feelings become stronger once you commit to a group, club or product. Be wary of the roles you play and the acts you put on, because you tend to fulfill the labels you accept. Above all, remember …the more kindness you deal into the world the more you come to love the people you help.”

My nonprofit work certainly had a painful initiation, and I had lots of unsatisfying jobs. I did not have extrinsic rewards, and I definitely sought out intrinsic rewards. I did pay a high price in less salary when I started working at nonprofits, but I do value this decision. Because I value helping others over, say, making $100K a year at a corporation doing press releases.

How You Can Use This Knowledge When Motivating Volunteers

Your volunteers have to create intrinsic rewards for the often boring, unsatisfying work they do. And it may be a sincere devotion to your cause, reminding themselves over and over how much this work you do is needed. No wonder your volunteers give 10x as much as non-volunteers! They MUST be dedicated to your cause, or else why would they be spending all of their time helping you? That’s right, volunteering creates a cognitive dissonance that they resolve by being even more dedicated to your nonprofit or your cause. Of course, having a satisfying volunteer experience helps too, if you can thank them and make them feel like a valued part of your team, but in the end, they are going to have to motivate themselves on the inside. Isn’t that wild? This is why you should really take your volunteer manager aside and thank them all the time for helping you create more loyal donors to your nonprofit. In fact, maybe the volunteer program and the fundraising program should merge! WHOA.

And this applies to me too. I’ve got a label now, as nonprofit author, and consultant. I’ve become someone dedicated to serving others. As far as I’m concerned, even if I’m not working at one nonprofit, I still get to help LOTS of nonprofit people! I help people all the time, with my products, my services, my meetups, my speaking engagements, and my blog posts! This is SO important to me. Why? Because I’ve been doing it a long time? Or because that’s the kind of knowledge I have? Research says both, according to David McRaney. McRaney says, “the more kindness you deal into the world, the more you love the people you come to help.”

So guess what? I love you guys.

Who are you, really? originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on June 18, 2013.

What’s PRISM?

According to the Guardian, “Internal NSA documents claim the top secret data-mining programme gives the US government access to a vast quantity of emails, chat logs and other data directly from the servers of nine internet companies. These include Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL and Apple. The companies mentioned have all denied knowledge of or participation in the program.” But we know they’re lying.

If you’ve read the headlines about the NSA keeping all of our data in a big server somewhere, this might make you a bit nervous. Imagine it. If you’re a US or UK citizen, this has happened to you.

Imagine some government entity can look at

• Every internet search you’ve ever done on Google or Yahoo.
• Every email you’ve ever sent on AOL, Yahoo, or Gmail.
• Every instant message you’ve ever received.
• Every social media post you’ve ever written on Facebook and Twitter.
• Every phonecall you’ve gotten through Verizon.
• Every Skype call you’ve ever done.
• Your credit card number, your bank account, or anything they want

People (AND NONPROFITS) are up in arms. The American Civil Liberties Union sued the government to compel release of its classified interpretation of section 215, the so-called “business records” provision of the Patriot Act. Here in Oregon, Jeff Merkeley, one of our senators, is introducing a bill with bipartisan support to force the NSA to reveal what information they are collecting from American citizens.

Spying on innocent people is wrong. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like that anyone could listen in on anything I’m doing, at any time. That is a violation of my and your basic human rights.

While this is fought out in the courts and in the senate, now that we know how much we’ve lost, we need options.

Some people say privacy is obsolete.

Privacy is not obsolete.

Privacy is a human right.

You DO have a right to privacy. And if you feel the same way that I do about this, then you’ll want the link to Prism Break, which helps you stop the government spying on your every move.

How To Protect Yourself

How to opt out of PRISM, the NSA’s global data surveillance program.

• If you currently use Google to search, you can switch to StartPage.com, or DuckDuckGo.com. Both engines are private, and do not save your search results.
• If you currently use Gmail, Yahoo Mail or another free email service, here’s where you’ll find alternatives like Thunderbird and RiseUp
• If you currently use Skype, you can find a link to Jitsi, a free version of Skype.
• If you currently use Twitter or facebook, there are private versions of those places as well.
• You’ll find out how to encrypt your emails with Enigmail.
• You’ll even find an alternative to Dropbox, Owncloud and Sparkleshare.

I personally use these services. I use enigmail and Thunderbird for email. I use Duckduckgo and startpage for my searches. I use Jitsi for chat. I still use Twitter but I’ve gotten off of Facebook. If you want help getting on any of these services, just let me know and I’ll walk you through it.

If you too believe that privacy is important, then here’s a link to petition the American government to request a pardon for Edward Snowden

4 Privacy Tools to Keep Your Data Safe & a Petition originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on June 17, 2013.

Is it that you’re not allowed to write it without a committee?

Is it that no one opens it?

Or you don’t know if anyone does?

Are you frustrated that few people give through your e-newsletter?

Do you want to solve your problems and help your e-newsletter make money for your nonprofit?

Naturally, you want the best for your cause, and you want to figure out how to get more people to give.

Join us for this 6 Week E-Course as we will address all of these frustrations and come up with solutions for you. The E-course starts June 17th and ends July 22nd.

What is an e-course?

For those of us who can’t find time for webinars in our busy schedule, we’ve got the e-course to help you learn at your own pace.

Each week for six weeks, you will get one email with instructions, examples, step-by-step checklists for your e-newsletter, and research showing the best way to write your e-newsletters.

Each section of the course is formatted for easy print out to put into a binder and refer to each time you write your e-newsletter.

At the end of the e-course you’ll have a chance to participate in a webinar with your teacher, Mazarine Treyz, going over your e-newsletter and offering suggestions to make it more effective.

The Getting Donations Through Your E-newsletter E-course is normally $127, on Sale for $97.96 until June 15th

What will you learn?

Here are the course modules you’ll be receiving for Nonprofit Newsletters | The Basics & More:

Week One (June 17): Enewsletters | It’s in Your List (sung to “It’s in His Kiss)

• Simple tips for growing your list quickly and ethically
• Offline ways to get more subscribers to your enews
• 22 subject lines guaranteed to get subscribers to open your emails

Bonus guide:  Your secret weapon:  how to create an email autoresponder welcome series to build engagement and commitment

Week Two (June 24):            Enewsletters | Getting Down to Basics

• Choosing your best enewsletter platform — beyond pricing
• Designing an effective enewsletter, including formatting rules for html and text based emails
• Get it read!  40% of your peeps will open your enews on their phone.  How to test how your enews will look
• The five reasons people share your enews

Bonus:  Free and low-cost design resources cheat sheet

Week Three (July 1):              Enewsletters | Long-term Engagement & Design

• Four simple emails that lead people to take action
• Innovations in enewsletters
• Case studies of incredible enewsletters
• What kinds of photos to use
• How knowing where to put your “donate” button will increase clicks — and donations!

Week Four (July 8):            Surveying | Your Secret Weapon Online and Off

• Sample surveys to help you segment your enews subscribers
• Survey questions to engage both online and off
• Potent calls to action for your enews
• How regular surveying can practically write your content for you

Week Five (July 15):  Print Newsletters Are Still Relevant | Making Yours Pay Off

• Why you need both online and print newsletters
• Writing for your donors:  what they really care about
• Why you need to kill your “letter from the Executive Director”
• How to write news stories
• How to incorporate the numbers — without putting your readers to sleep

Bonus:  Tom Ahern’s Profitable Donor Newsletters, a two-hour recorded webinar 

Week Six (July 22):  Print Newsletters | Designing and Mailing on a Budget

• How and why to get rid of Microsoft Publisher once and for all
• Captions, photographs, and statistics oh my!
• Headlines that sell

Bottom line: If you are working at a nonprofit where no one ever taught you how to write an e-newsletter, and you want to learn how to do it better, this is the course for you.

Mazarine Treyz

About the teachers and writers:

Mazarine Treyz has written hundreds of e-newsletters with an average open rate of 30-50%. She has raised thousands of dollars with e-newsletters for nonprofits, and has raised thousands for her business as well via e-newsletters. Mazarine Treyz writes e-newsletters for clients in the nonprofit and HR industries.

Previous speaking engagements include: University of Portland Nonprofit Management Program, IRS/SBA webinars, SBDC online courses, Scleroderma Leadership Foundation Conference, Meals on Wheels National webinars, Texas Association of Nonprofit Organizations, Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Austin Community College, Young Nonprofit Professionals Network, and more.

Pamela Grow is the creator of Simple Development Systems, and she has raised thousands of dollars with e-newsletters.

PS. Bottom line: If you can’t afford to do 4 mailings a year, and want to get more donations through your e-newsletter, you will benefit from this e-course. Click here to Buy Now.

Do You Want More Donations Through Your E-Newsletter? originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on June 12, 2013.

Want to get that interview? Get a free fundraising cover letter now!

Cover Story, June 2013, Fundraising Success Magazine

I’m so thankful for Margaret Battistelli for tracking me down and letting me contribute the front page feature to Fundraising Success Magazine. Thank you Margaret!

You should go check it out.

It’s here: http://www.fundraisingsuccessmag.com/magazine/fundraising-success/

If you’ve read the article, and you’re like, okay, what’s the next step?

What if you’re like, “I want to get to the point of having the interview, how do I get there?”

OR “What if I’m moving past the first 3 months in my fundraising position and I want to continue to succeed?”

Let me just say, You Have Asked The Right Question!

And the answer? Is much longer than a blog post. It’s about 200 pages actually, and it’s all right here.

If you ever wished you had someone gently showing you what they have learned about cover letters, interviewing, negotiating salary, the different kinds of fundraising careers you can have, and more, you need this book.

Get The Job! Your Fundraising Career Empowerment Guide

According to the 2013 Compasspoint Underdeveloped Report, 21% of development directors in small nonprofits are looking to move out of their current position, and 29% expect to leave the field of fundraising in the next 5 years.

That means that if you’re in your first fundraising job now, odds are you’ll have another 2-3 jobs in the next 5 years. That means you need to get savvy on how to get the right fundraising job for you. Don’t get stuck in a bad situation! But how can you recognize a bad situation? This book will show you how, right in the interview.

This book represents the culmination of all of my years of experience looking for fundraising jobs, from how to create a killer cover letter to how to ace the interview. From speaking your truth at work (and calling out dysfunctional organizational culture), to how to succeed in your first 80 days.

How do I know all of this? Because girl I have been there!

I have been a development assistant, a development associate, a development officer and a development director, as well as a co-founder of a nonprofit and a development consultant. I’ve run big galas, career fairs, auctions, outreach festivals. I’ve written appeal letters and gotten grants. I’ve designed annual reports, marketing materials, and more.

In this book, you will get advice and materials that are easy to use and created especially for you, the busy fundraising professional.

You’ll learn:

• How to create a compelling cover letter that gets results
• How to relate unrelated experience on your resume.
• How to ask good interview questions to find out if your boss will be a bully.
• Case studies of how people stepped into leadership roles at nonprofits.
• The three conversations you MUST have with your boss to be successful.
• How to negotiate for a higher nonprofit salary, AND MORE!

For only $39.97, you can get a clear roadmap to succeeding in your fundraising career.
Shipping included in cost below. Please choose US or international shipping.

Shipping

US shipping $43.97 USDEverywhere else shipping $58.97 USD

About the author:

Mazarine Treyz has connected nonprofit jobseekers and employers for over five years. She has:

• Directed successful nonprofit career fairs & looked at hundreds of resumes
• Connected jobseekers with nonprofit career experts
• Facilitated client job searches resulting in successful jobs in nonprofit and government
• Moved on up from Development Assistant to Development Director and Development Consultant.

What are people saying about the book?

I just ordered your book Get the Job. Five minutes after placing the order the phone rang and I was called to come in for an interview with an organization that would be a wonderful next step in my career. That is what I call fast results! -Julie

What’s inside the book? I’m glad you asked. Here’s the table of contents.

Table of Contents

Shipping included in cost below. Please choose US or international shipping.

NOTE: Much to my surprise, due to international shipping costs going up, it really does cost $18 to send this book overseas.

Shipping

US shipping $43.97 USDEverywhere else shipping $58.97 USD

Now also available as an ebook. Click below to get the ebook

Free Fundraising Cover Letter Here originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on June 11, 2013.

North Korean Dragon by Mazarine Treyz

Art by Mazarine Treyz

Today we are answering more reader questions: One person writes,

Topic: fundraising for non non-profits…guidance for artists trying to create an income doing what they love?

Good question.

Here are all of the ways I’ve tried to solve this problem.

Ebooks

A few years ago I bought an ebook by Chris Guillebeau called “Art and Money” and it promised to teach me how to make money as an artist.

There were a couple of interviews with artists who had broken the mold and who were selling their stuff.

The vast majority of the book was places you could post your art online, where you might be able to sell it.

It was disappointing, to say the least.

It read like someone had just interviewed a couple of people, googled “Where to sell your art” and then made an ebook about it. To the tune of $67. Yeah, I returned it.

Because it didn’t get into the MEAT of how to sell your art, you know? If I’m going to pay that much for an ebook, it had better give me worksheets, concrete tips and tools to sell my art. It should be how to run a business, and how to do marketing. And this book honestly did not deliver the goods.

Every time I have sold art it’s because of a personal connection to the buyer.
 

Should you do Art walks?

I exhibited at EAST, a popular artwalk in Austin in 2010. It was a total wash. A few windy, 90 degree days and even though I was demoing, and engaging passerby, nobody bought. I paid $250 to be there, and it didn’t work.
 

african turtle, by Mazarine treyz

Can you get Grants to make art?

I went to a conference last June where I was supposed to learn how to get grants to do your artwork. It wasn’t particularly helpful for those of us who need money NOW, not in 2-3 years. That’s how grantmaking goes in general, you know. Getting grants happens after a very long period of output, of getting known.

Should you pay to subscribe to e-newsletters?

I used to pay to be on a couple of mailing lists.

Art Deadlines List

I used to pay to be on this list, but then I got a new perspective on “art deadlines” and “contests”.

You can go on a lot of artist retreats and that’s pretty fun too, but most of them charge an “application fee” if you want to try to get in, and if you enter art contests, they also have “application fees”

And here’s the thing about those.

The galleries and retreats and events that run those contests, they realized long ago that the real market is US, the artists. We’re willing to gamble $25-$50 if that means we can go to an artists retreat or possibly win a contest.

So they end up making thousands of dollars on their contest, and you enter contest after contest, and you never win and you lose YOUR money and effort.

The real product… is you.

What about Corporate art sales?

There’s this guy called Brainard Carey, who charges $20/month for access to his email newsletter. He says he’ll teach you about selling art.

He suggested becoming a corporate art consultant, or trying to sell your art to corporations.

Grotesque, by Mazarine Treyz

I decided to focus on law firms. It was 2009. They basically laughed in my face. I called LOTS of law firms, and they all said, “LOL it’s a downturn, we’re laying off people, we are NOT buying or renting art.”

So I unsubscribed from their newsletters, and decided to try something else.

Real photographers that I’ve talked with say…

I’ve chatted with some photographers who sell quite a few of their photographs, they can have a $20,000 month. Top tips? What people generally want are artsy photos of naked ladies. And you can sell them on eBay.

But nobody wants to hear that.

Some of my photographer friends who tried to go the gallery route didn’t have much success with that, even if they were accepted by the galleries, but they COULD sell their stuff online. And they still have to teach classes and workshops on the side to make ends meet. Or have a dayjob.

If naked ladies are not particularly your thing, you can make money selling art classes much better than selling your own art.

Teaching art as a way to make money from your art = A+++

Mazarine Treyz teaching art

This is how I’ve made the most money as an artist. I’ve taught people how to do art. And I love teaching, so this is immensely satisfying. This is why you’ll see your local art colleges doing summer classes and kid’s classes and continuing education classes. They’ve realized that they can make a lot of money teaching art too. A lot of their giftshops have items that gather dust, but their classes sell like hotcakes.

I really enjoyed teaching art when I lived in Austin. I taught encaustic art, including encaustic monotype, encaustic art 101, advanced encaustic, encaustic crackle glaze, and some other techniques. I am a total encaustic art nerd, so I made a series of online encaustic art classes as well. Since I moved to Portland, I don’t have the studio space to do encaustic on a regular basis, though I do it on occasion.

I’ve exhibited at various places but never had much luck with that. And once I found out how easy it was to make money selling art classes instead of art, I didn’t really try as hard to get into galleries.

It’s not easy to even sell art classes. Even selling your teaching has a method to it. You have to build a mailing list. And you have to learn how to write about your classes in an engaging way. And it helps if a lot of people want to learn the art medium you’re teaching, and nobody else in town is teaching it.

Books and resources

You can go to the foundation center cooperating collection in your town, should be at the central library, and look for artist grants there.

There’s a book full of interviews with artists who have “made it” called In the Making, by Linda Weintraub,. I like the Skip Schuckmann interview, especially, though they also have Mathew Barney and Thomas Kincaid.

In the Making by Linda Weintraub

I read a memoir by Robert Daley recently, talking about his life as a writer, and even though he wrote 19 books and one even got turned into a Hollywood movie (Year of the Dragon) one of the things that he says in his memoir is that you never really make it, your existence is always tenuous. If that’s the case, then…

I’m borrowing from Lynda Barry here, but a lot of “making it” seems to be low overhead and no debt and living where you can make whatever kind of art you want without having to worry about making rent.

So, living in a smaller city is a real asset when you’re an artist. Check out the Chicken Farm in west Texas.

Felted coaster by Mazarine Treyz

These days I’m more interested in functional art rather than art for art’s sake. So I’ve gotten into felting. Which is fun!

I think it’s possible to become a successful artist, selling your art.  Just don’t expect to make it right away, or at all. Learn about business. Learn about marketing.

Look for innovative ways to make money with your art. Keep trying new things, and see what will stick.

Was this helpful? Leave a comment!

Are you a working artist?

Do you have any advice for making it?

Leave a comment!

Reader Questions: How can an artist make a living doing art? originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on June 10, 2013.

Today I’d like to introduce you to the concept of the parallel story.

What does this mean?

For example, let’s take one of my favorite books, Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett. The story is on the surface a loose retelling of the Romeo and Juliet story.

The Cast of Characters:

Glenda is on the left, Juliet is on the right, Trev is next to Juliet, and Nutt is in front of him

Juliet: There’s a girl named Juliet who is so beautiful that people swoon when they see her walking down the street. She is also, frankly, dim. She turns from a kitchen assistant into a fashion star.

Trev: There’s a boy who loves her named Trev, who turns from a candlemaker into a football star. Juliet’s family is at war with Trev’s family, just like in Romeo and Juliet.

Glenda: Glenda is the head cook in the night kitchen at Unseen University. She is a genius among cooks, and she’s also somewhat homely and fat. She is looked up to as a leader in her community of working class people, takes food to old ladies who are bedridden, and sees it as her duty to look out for people. She dreams of romance but because she works all the time and considers herself too homely, she never tries to chase her dreams.

Nutt: is a candle maker at the university, who happens to be a different species than everyone else. He speaks 12 languages, has studied poetry and philosophy, and can make all sorts of unique things. He has read hundreds of books and is constantly worried about not measuring up, not having enough worth as a person. He ends up training the football team and learning about how he wants to be in the world.

Underneath the main story of Juliet and Trev is a second, parallel story about Glenda and Nutt, and this is by far the more interesting story.

Glenda and Nutt are unlikely main characters, yet that is what they are. Their romance talk consists of “very interesting facts about ships” while Trev and Juliet talk about fashion.

The two stories are parallel stories that serve to highlight each other. They play with our assumptions that this is Trev and Juliet’s story, that what we want to hear about is the attractive people, that what we want to hear is what they’re saying and thinking, when the far more interesting thoughts and deeds are done by the people with a social conscience, who may not be as attractive but who work hard to help others succeed.

One of the reasons this story resonates with me so much is that most of the people who are drawn to nonprofit work will never be on the cover of People magazine, yet their lives are far more admirable than the people whose faces we see in the supermarket checkout line every day.

But what does this have to do with your nonprofit appeal letter?

Can you write two stories in an appeal letter? Yes you can, if one story is highlighting the other story.

How could you do this?

If you’re an animal shelter, it could be:

A Tale of Two Dogs

Muffin, a Golden Retriever

Dear Jean,

I’d like to introduce you to Muffin.

Here’s Muffin’s story: Muffin lives in Beaverton, Oregon. He is born in a breeder’s house, and is sold to a man who says he has five dogs. This man, Rob, actually has fifteen dogs, four cats and three ferrets. He is an animal hoarder. Rob thinks he has a special connection with animals. He is single, unemployed and wants to have as many animals around him as possible. Animal hoarding is a psychological condition that is very hard to cure. Rob tries to hide his animal hoarding by confining the animals to the house. Muffin roams all over his house, break out of the yard, and runs all over the neighborhood. When animal control people are called, they find Muffin has been savaged by other dogs that live in Rob’s house, he has a festering wound on his side, his fur is matted and because Rob does not clean up after his animals, he stinks of animal feces. He is returned to Rob’s house but quickly breaks out again, loses his collar, and is taken to the pound. No one comes to claim him, no one comes to adopt him, and this beautiful puppy, so full of life, is euthanized, because after his time with Rob and all of the other animals, he is constantly afraid, always barking, and considered “unadoptable”. It’s so sad to look into his eyes, and know that there was not a home in time for Muffin. He had so much love to give, and now he’s gone forever.

Now meet Sammy.

Hi! My name’s Sammy

Sammy’s story: Sammy is a mutt, a combination of German shepherd and beagle. He is found wandering in the desert in Northern California, and is posted through the night drop box at our shelter. He is skinny and and dirty and covered in fleas. A young man walks through our shelter and sees Sammy leaning against the wall of his cage, just looking so downhearted. He perks up when he sees the young man, named Steve, and Steve takes him home, where there are no other pets, and gives him a flea treatment, lots of attention and love, and takes him on a nice long walk every day. Steve’s health improves, and Sammy’s health improves too. He’s a loveable dog, he hardly ever barks, he has the most adoring liquid eyes, and everyone who meets him remarks on how happy he looks.

Sammy’s story could have ended quite differently if we were not there to help. Sammy could have ended up like Muffin. This is why your support is so urgent today. There are so many Muffins out there, just begging for love. Help us find more homes for dogs like Muffin and Sammy. Please, give generously today.

This is an example of how you can use parallel stories to make your point in your nonprofit appeal letter.

You could make the same kind of story for an environmental cause, for a domestic violence cause, or for a number of other causes. The main idea is to show what happens if your nonprofit is NOT there. And show the joy that results when someone DOES give to your nonprofit, the happy endings that can result. You may wish to save Sammy’s story for your thank you letter. You may wish to just include Muffin’s story with your direct mail appeal letter.

Whichever you choose to do, keep track of how each appeal version does, and let me know how it did! I’m always looking to learn more on what makes an appeal letter that makes people REALLY want to give.

PS. If you are a responsible person looking to adopt a pet, and you like the picture of the golden retriever above, I took the picture from Golden Bond, a nonprofit that places golden retrievers here in Oregon. The dog’s real name is Rex, and his real story is quite different, but he still needs a loving home. Click here to learn more about Rex.

A tale of two cities (in your appeal letter) originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on June 5, 2013.

Roger Craver of The Agitator

Roger Craver lays it down with this podcast with Jeff Brooks!

He says a lot of interesting things! He’s been fundraising longer than I’ve been alive, and he has so many tidbits of wisdom.

Here are my favorite parts of Roger Craver’s interview:

He says social media is bullshit! (And I actually agree, it’s bullshit for fundraising, but it has other good uses)

My favorite part is around 28 minutes in, where he talks about finding out what causes commitment to your nonprofit. Roger Craver says, you’ve got to find this out or you can’t keep your donors.

Surveying your donors is CRITICAL

So what should you do now? SURVEY! On the phone! In person! Online! Through the mail! Ask people what they want!

If you only take one thing from this podcast, take this. You must find out:

What causes commitment to your nonprofit?

The turnover problem

He also talks about how awful it is when senior executives do not respect fundraisers, and how it makes it difficult to hold onto donors, since, (duh) the fundraiser leaves or is fired every 12-18 months.

He said in the old days, it didn’t used to be like that.

What has changed?

Here’s what changed. The corporate mentality of “human resources” and people getting treated like interchangeable cogs in a wheel has trickled down to the nonprofit world. Executives and board don’t see how important it is to have someone in the fundraising position for a long time, to have them grow, to allocate money to educate them, and believe in them. They think you should have all of the skills instantly, without training, and be able to do 3 people’s jobs.

This means that when your boss fired you on a whim, they were just like, “We’ll get someone else in 2 minutes! Who needs a fundraising professional to stay longer than 12 months?”

This disposable culture of fundraising professionals is very sad. And Paul Nazareth agrees.

Roger Craver also said that more nonprofits should merge, and he doesn’t understand why more of them are not doing this in an increasingly competitive fundraising environment.

It’s a totally fascinating interview and I highly encourage you to listen to it, and read some of Roger’s posts on The Agitator. He’s got good things to say!

Fascinating interview with Roger Craver + My Favorite Part originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on June 4, 2013.

Flickr image: Mujalifah

Today we are answering more reader questions! Thanks so much for asking them!

Here’s a tricky one.

When a foundation has offered to visit your program, what do you do with them while they are there? Aside from a tour, what other info do they want presented to them? Do you feed them, or is that considered poor spending….

First, talk with the foundation staff before they come.

Ask them these questions.

1. How do you like to do site visits?

2. Do you generally like to get a tour of staff offices as well as program areas?

3. What has worked well in the past when you’ve done site visits for nonprofits?

4. Do you want a presentation on what our financials are so far this year, how our programs are doing, and other pertinent information, a sort of snapshot on where we’re at?

5. Would you like refreshments served at our site?

6. How do you like to interact with program staff?

7. Would you like to speak only with senior leadership and board members, or would you like to speak to others as well?

8. Do you want to go to our program sites on your own, or would you like staff from our administrative offices to accompany you?

9. Anything else you’d like me to know before you visit our site?

Each foundation is different. We had a site visit from a foundation at one place I used to work at, and they sat in a circle with us in the back office, on our little chairs, since we didn’t have a conference room, and they sat and chatted with us about how the programs were going, and they smiled at us. They liked what they saw.

In another place I worked at, they wanted  our board chair there, and our executive director, and I served them water, but hadn’t really thought if I should have more food or not. We gave them annual reports and the print edition of our latest newsletter. The fact that my boss was late to the meeting didn’t sit well with them. They did an unsupervised tour of our program sites. We still got our money, but less than the previous year.

So, some things you can control, some things you can’t control. There’s a lot that you could try to do right, but if you don’t ask the right questions, you won’t know what they want.

That’s why asking questions is WAY more important than any advice I could give you here. Who knows what their expectations are? Who knows what their program staff want? There’s only one way to find out. And that’s to ASK.

Was this helpful?

Do you have a site visit idea you’d like to share?

Do you have another question?

Write it below!

Reader Questions: What do you do on a foundation site visit? originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on May 29, 2013.

THIS Flyer

or

THIS Flyer

when communicating with your supporters?

Which will get you more donations?

According to a recent article sent to me by the fabulous @danibardgette

Communicating with All Your Heart: Flyer with a Cardioid Shape and Receptivity to a Request for Humanitarian Aid

Studies have shown that physical cues, presented in the immediate environment of an individual, influence his/her behavior later. Recent studies have found that exposing individuals to the concept of love influenced their subsequent helping behavior. This effect was studied in a field context using a physical cue associated with love. Customers entering a store received a flyer that informed them that a food collection was being organized for needy people. Depending on the condition, the flyer had a classical rectangular or cardioid shape. Results found an increase of nearly 50% in donors when using the cardioid flyer.

Source article here.

Bottom Line?

Make it heart-shaped, and you’ll get more donations.

Another bottom line?

Fundraise around valentine’s day with your local grocery store, get some heart-shaped pinups, and possibly you’ll get a better return than on another holiday!

Test this and let me know what you find!

Want more donations? The SHAPE of your flyer matters! originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on May 28, 2013.

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Webinar Description

Have you ever wished there was a clear blueprint for your career success?

Do you have a new fundraising job and want to start out on the right foot?

Or are you stuck in a job with no upward mobility? You’ve waited long enough. Why settle for your current title and wage for the next two years when you can have a better title and more money in a new job?

It’s hard to find useful nonprofit career advice. Many people just say “Stick with it! You’ll be rewarded!” But according to the Bridgespan Group, most nonprofit staff are NOT being groomed for leadership, and only 33% of the time do people from inside the nonprofit even attempt to fill senior leadership level positions. That means most of the time, you will have to make a leap to another nonprofit to move on up.

In this hands-on, how-to webinar by the author of Get the Job! Your Fundraising Career Empowerment Guide and The Wild Woman’s Guide to Fundraising, you will get advice and materials that are easy to use and created especially for you, the busy fundraising professional who barely has time to eat lunch, let alone search for a new job. We make it easy for you to succeed in your new position or in your search.

Let this webinar show you the right way to secure an early win. This webinar provides sound advice on must-do tasks for your first days on the job, and guides you every step of the way through the interview, as well as assists you through your first meetings with your new boss. Whether you’re looking to make that next lateral move for a fundraising job, or you simply want to communicate better with your boss and co-workers, this webinar will help you.

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Webinar Outline:
During this 90 minute webinar, in practical hands-on training, we’ll cover the essential steps you can follow to help you get that job AND feel secure in your new role. We’ll answer all of these questions and more:

Learn:

1. How can you never miss a job posting, ever again?
2. How can you create a compelling cover letter that gets results?
3. How can you relate unrelated experience on your resume?
4. How to ask good interview questions to find out if your boss will be a bully, or if they have unrealistic expectations for your position?
5. How to talk about your accomplishments without bragging?
6. How to answer the tough interview questions? As well as interview questions you don’t have to answer.
7. What is successful followup etiquette?
8. How can you dominate LinkedIn and really work your profile?
9. What are some of the best ways to step into leadership roles at nonprofits?
10. How can you deal with new fundraising job overwhelm AND get it all done?
11. What are the three conversations you MUST have with your boss to be successful?
12. How can you gather a team of people around you to help you achieve your goals?
13. How can you successfully negotiate for a higher nonprofit salary?
14. How to get recognition for your accomplishments?
15. How do you show people your value as a leader?
16. How can you get more responsibility and learning opportunities at your job?
17. BONUS: Real Case Studies of how people moved on up in their careers

NEW! The following bonus materials are included with this webinar:

1. Worksheet to help you really shine in your interview
2. Sample Cover Letter
3. Sample 3 month review.
4. Cheat-sheet of good questions to take to your next interview
5. Linkedin Profile Checklist
6. A full list of national and international websites where you can find nonprofit jobs
7. E-Article: Getting that Fundraising Job & You’ve Got the Job, Now What?

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Step-By-Step Live Demonstration:

During this webinar, we will go through how to set up RSS feeds for jobs in real-time, learn how to talk about your accomplishments with real-life examples, how to show your accomplishments when your measurements can’t be dollars raised, and go over key conversations you need to have with your boss step by step.

Mazarine Treyz has connected nonprofit jobseekers and employers for over five years, and she has

• Directed successful nonprofit career fairs
• Looked at thousands of resumes
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• Facilitated client job searches resulting in successful jobs in nonprofit and government
• Raised millions for nonprofits
• Moved on up from Development Assistant to Development Director and Development Consultant.

Mazarine Treyz is the author of the popular Wild Woman’s Guide to Fundraising, a book helping empower nonprofit fundraisers, volunteers and executives to raise more money fast! Her book was named as one of the Top 10 books of 2010 by Beth Kanter, CEO of Zoetica. Her blog, has over 30,000 monthly readers. Her most recent book, “Get the Job! Your Fundraising Career Empowerment Guide” is now available in the Wild Woman Fundraising store.

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NEW Webinar! Moving on up in your fundraising career June 4th 2013 originally appeared on Wild Woman Fundraising on May 21, 2013.