Fundraising is Beautiful - How to Tell If Your Fundraising Is Good (Part 3: Packaging)

How to Tell If Your Fundraising Is Good (Part 3: Packaging)

06/24/10 • 15 min

Direct mail, the life-blood of most fundraising programs, has different design conventions from other types of design. It's less pretty, more old-fashioned, and almost messy. Here's a look at direct mail design and packaging: Everything you need to create successful fundraising appeals -- from fonts, to photos, to underlining.

Previous Episode

How to Tell If Your Fundraising Is Good (Part 2: Content)

Effective fundraising has some characteristics that you might find odd or off-putting:

It's simple.
It's about only one thing.
There's an obsessive call to action.
It's built around stories.
It suggests specific amounts for donors to give.
It's all about donors (not about the nonprofit).

This action-packed program will help you know what should be in your fundraising messages -- and why.

Next Episode

It's all about editing

The good fundraiser knows that not everything you do makes good fundraising. We bring donors on board with the stuff that makes their heart sing. We don't insist that they fully get it before we'll accept their donations.

If you've been paying attention to what information donors respond to, you know what to say and what not to say. Editing happens all the time. Just take a listen to this podcast. It's edited from our previous podcast -- and it's just as true.

It's also the work of our now-former editor, Peter Li. We consider it some of his best work.