Are you having difficulty thinking of what to write in an appeal letter or on your donation page? Making the ask can be a challenge, but it's a must - people are more likely to give when they are asked! While there are no universal rules, there are some tried-and-tested fundraising content writing tips. Adding these nine magic fundraising words to your website or appeal will increase your chance of success.
If you’re reading this, chances are that you’re preparing for a fundraising campaign or attempting to craft the perfect copy for your donation page or appeal – and you got stuck. You might be wondering how you can improve your writing to increase donations and which fundraising words will have the best results.
Whether you’re organizing a big fundraising event, reaching out to a major donor, or writing an e-newsletter – fundraising campaign content writing has its challenges. It can often be hard to find the exact right words to encourage the reader to give.
In this article, we reveal nine magic fundraising words that have proven to be successful at bringing in more donations. Plus, we share how to use them and give some examples to spark your own creativity.
First, let’s look at the psychology behind why people donate. Understanding this is critical when crafting your messaging and choosing your fundraising words!
No matter how you are appealing for donations, whether online, in person, or via mail, the essence of why people give remains the same: people give to people.
People don’t donate to faceless organizations or buildings. They give to change lives and save lives – and because someone asked them to.
This is why great fundraisers focus on people, using human-centric language and outreach. They are also great storytellers – sharing stories in a way that relates to their audience. Effective fundraisers also know their donor base well (who they are, how much they can give, why they give). They are sincere and empathetic, and they build relationships.
While there are no universal rules, and what might work for one organization might not work for another, there are some tried-and-tested tips for successfully asking for donations. Plus, remember that effective fundraising appeals and great donation pages take time to polish. So don’t get discouraged!
To get started, take a look at these nine magic fundraising words that nonprofits use to boost donations. How can you work them into your fundraising copywriting?
If you observe carefully, you’ll notice that a lot of nonprofits spend a lot of time talking about themselves. “We” succeeded in this. Animals in danger can count on “us”.
This can make donors feel excluded and unappreciated. Critically assess your messaging on your donation pages, requests for donations, and social media posts. Are you focusing on your donors or on you?
If you’re focused too much on yourself, rewrite. Try to replace the majority of your “we” and “us” terms with “you”. For example:
This is called donor-centric fundraising, and it shows donors that they make a true difference when they give.
Not only does using the word “you” make your donors feel valued, but it removes the wall between your donors and your organization. And donors who feel appreciated are more likely to give again!
Want to further increase your chances of success? Be sure to use your donors’ first names where possible!
Pro tip: There are two types of “we” – the one that excludes and the one that includes. You can still use the word “we”, just make it inclusive of your donors as well as your organization (e.g. “Together, we were able to get clean water access to 10,000 people in remote areas of Ghana.”)
In a study covered in Harvard Magazine on how people respond to language, psychologists Langer, Chanowitz, and Blank found that adding a reason to your request can almost double your success rate.
This is because the human brain is wired to react when it hears the word “because”. Research shows this word is an automatic trigger for compliance, and in many cases, a person stops paying attention to what comes after they hear “because”.
For example, in the late 1970s, the researchers organized an experiment to test different variations of framing a request to cut in line to make photocopies (see the image below).
When asked without giving a reason, the researcher was successful at cutting in line 60% of the time. When adding a reason – using “because” – this success rate jumped to over 90%.
To capitalize on this peculiarity of the human brain, use the magic fundraising word “because” in your asks to trigger your donors to react. Making it clear why you’re asking for donations (and specifically using the word “because” when explaining why) will increase your donations.
Here are some examples:
In today’s busy world (see what we did there?), reminding your donors to donate “today” is essential to increasing your conversion rates and reaching your fundraising goals.
Using the word “today” conveys a sense of urgency, which can help motivate your donors to give without delay.
When using a sense of urgency to get your donors to give, however, be sure to avoid jumping straight into the ask. Even if both you and the donor know where you’re going with your copy (i.e. a request for a donation), it’s important to craft that journey in a way that draws them in and builds up the feelings of urgency before announcing your end goal.
Take a look at these ideas:
“Thank you” is often one of the first things our parents teach us to say, but is it really a magic fundraising word that increases donations?
Turns out it is. In their paper, Learning to Say Thank You: The Role of Donor Acknowledgements, Jen Shang, Adrian Sargeant, Kathryn Carpenter, and Harriet Day shed light on the science behind saying “thank you”.
Among other things, their research showed that donors who received an extra thank-you letter gave 60% larger gifts than those who did not.
Always thank your donors, whatever amount they contributed. And make sure you say “thank you” regularly, not only when you’re about to make an ask.
Saying “thank you” also reminds your donors that they have given before and reinforces their positive self-image. We tend to repeat our decisions in order to stay congruent with our idea of self.
Take a look:
“Small” (or its synonyms, like “few,” “little,” or “just”) is a fundraising magic word.
In his classic book Influence, Dr. Robert Cialdini found that adding a minimal parameter to the gift solicitation delivered drastically different results.
In a door-to-door solicitation, one group of prospective donors were asked:
“Would you be willing to help by giving a donation?”
Another group were asked:
“Would you be willing to help by giving a donation? Every penny will help.”
People who were asked the second variation were almost twice as likely to donate!
In this case, the phrase “every penny will help” acted as a synonym for “small”. It helped motivate people who might not have otherwise given.
Dr. Cialdini talked about how consistency (one of the 6 principles that motivate human behavior) can be activated by looking for – and asking for – small initial commitments. These small commitments can later turn into much bigger contributions. This tactic will work best on “tightwads” (people who spend less than they would ideally be able to spend). Suggesting that “tightwad” donors join a monthly recurring giving program is also a good alternative. $10 per month for a year sounds much better to them (and almost everyone else) than $120, even if the amount of money is the same.
Implying that a small action is a good start will make people more amenable to making a move and help people break through “action paralysis.”
Adapt these examples for your organization:
- “Feed a child for as little as $0.50 a day.”
- “Making a donation is a way of reaching out a helping hand. By providing even a small donation, you can be part of an effort to provide medical assistance, supply food and shelter, and help families rebuild their lives and communities.”
- “We always welcome large contributions, but even the smallest gift you can make to our Christimas campaign this year will go a long way.”
Our brains love instant gratification. Several magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have shown that our frontal cortex is highly active when we think about waiting for something, and our mid-brain lights up even more when we think about receiving something right away.
Words like “instant,” “immediately,” or even just “fast” are known to flip the switch on the mid-brain activity that makes us so prone to act. We are more prone to buy (or donate) when we’re reminded that results will happen fast or we will receive an immediate award.
While you cannot often use the word “instantly” when describing nonprofit services, using the words “quickly” or “immediately” can easily be incorporated into your fundraising copywriting.
The word “quick” can also be used to reassure donors that the donation process won’t take too much of their time (and if you’re saying the donation process is quick, make sure it is!).
- “Your gift will be put to work immediately.”
- “Upon your donation, you will instantly receive a video from our team on the ground.”
- “Our donation process is simple and quick. In just 30 seconds, your donation will be on its way to support Australia’s most vulnerable children.”
Unfortunately, an all-too-common approach to increasing donations is to tell prospects how few people are currently supporting the organization.
For example, in a recent fundraising email, Wikipedia wrote: “Millions of people across the world read Wikipedia, but only 1% of readers give.”
While it’s possible that Wikipedia tested other methods and this one worked best, this goes against the principle of social proof. People are more likely to engage in a behavior when they think other people are doing the same thing.
Especially when they are uncertain, people will often look to the actions and behaviors of others to determine their own. Humans are social animals, and science is telling us that, to persuade others, we can point to what many others are already doing.
This goes for suggested giving amounts as well. On your donation form, provide several suggested amounts (linking each to a specific outcome, if possible) and highlight one donation amount as a suggestion.
A study showed that there was a 12% increase in average donation amounts when donors were subject to “social information conditions”. Essentially, suggested giving levels helped tell donors what amount is “appropriate” to give.
Check out these ideas:
- “Join over 10,000 donors from Canada!”
- “95% of New York-area donors made $200 or larger contributions! Join them.”
- “Please join your work colleagues in helping people in your community by making a charitable contribution – 65% of them are already doing so!”
Donating feels good. If it doesn’t, it won’t happen. Donors are increasingly averse to the idea of overhead costs. Somewhere along the road, an idea was formed that some charities are massive, bureaucratic machines that spend a lot of money on overhead and administrative costs. And no one wants their $100 to go towards the CEO’s salary.
“Despite the understanding that CEOs of nonprofits need to be paid, if given the choice of where their money would go, most people donating money wouldn’t choose to contribute to the salary of the organization’s CEO,” says Elizabeth A. Keenan, an assistant professor in the Marketing unit at Harvard Business School.
And simply reducing your overhead costs and bringing it to the minimum can harm your nonprofit. Low salaries coupled with a heavy workload can lead to nonprofit burnout. Instead, adopt the idea of overhead-free donations. Have professional philanthropists or major donors cover overhead costs so that the vast majority of smaller donations can go directly toward your programs.
For example, if you’re able to use something like, “100% of your money will help feed the hungry”, you can potentially triple your donations.
Here are a couple of additional ideas:
Just like we’re wired to do what others do, we’re wired to follow the lead of experts. People tend to respond positively to credibility and authority.
You can build authority in many ways: using testimonials, showcasing logos of brands supporting you, and sharing links to credible research or writing you’ve done. All of these are symbols of authority and can increase your influence.
And ultimately, trust is the most important element of any relationship. This also applies to the relationship between a nonprofit organization and its donors.
Embed the magic fundraising word “expert” into your calls to action and watch your donations increase over time.
- “Support our team of experts in rehabilitating the Indonesian elephants.”
- “Support local experts and changemakers already bringing transformation in the lives of the vulnerable in their communities.”
- “Your gift will help fund our experts’ cutting-edge research, drive change through advocacy, and facilitate professional education.”
Looking for further inspiration? Here are five additional words that nonprofits have used to succeed with their fundraising campaign content writing.
Support: Using the word “support” instead of “donate” has increased donations for several nonprofits.
Easy: Just like with the word “quick”, you want to assure your donors that the donation process is user-friendly.
Difference: Donors want to feel like they’re making a positive impact, so consider using the phrase “make a difference” in your copies.
Hurry: Evoking a sense of urgency, this works best when there’s a real-time issue at hand (e.g. “Hurry, Grove Park will be demolished in two days!”
Hassle-Free: No one wants someone to harass them with e-mails and calls every week. Letting your donors know that won’t happen can increase their chances of giving.
Here are some examples of well-written, heartfelt thank-you letters using many of the above magic fundraising words. These provide a good view of how to acknowledge a donation and express gratitude to the donor.
“Donate” is perhaps the single most widely-used call to action for nonprofit fundraising. In order to stand out and draw better attention to your donation button or other call to action, there are numerous effective phrases that you can add. Select a word or phrase that best suits your nonprofit’s work and impact.
Here are some ideas for wording that can be used while asking for donations:
Using these magic fundraising words can help you increase donations and take your fundraising to the next level.
When writing your website or donation page copy, don’t forget about using emotion. Emotion is what sets the scene, leads the reader through a story, and helps them empathize. And empathy is what motivates philanthropic action.
Finally, don’t forget to customize your ask and do a lot of testing with your audience. These might be magic fundraising words, but each nonprofit’s audience is different. Donors are more likely to give when contributing is personally meaningful to them, so customize your language.
For example, a study showed that when fundraising appeals use adjectives like “kind and compassionate,” women increased their giving on average by 10 percent. On the other hand, male donors are prompted to give more when solicitations use adjectives like “strong,” “responsible,” and “loyal.” You want to have a different fundraising approach for each donor type.
We hope you found these tips helpful! Choose Donorbox as your online donation system and check out our Nonprofit blog for more helpful nonprofit resources and tips.
Raviraj heads the sales and marketing team at Donorbox. His growth-hacking abilities have helped Donorbox boost fundraising efforts for thousands of nonprofit organizations.
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