Start here
The story already in their head
Your donors connect the dots from your last few touches and tell themselves a story about you. Learn to read those touches the way a stranger would.
The Year-End Story Guide
Your donors already have a story about you
A free guide to find the stories you already have, tell them well, and bring more donors alongside this year-end. The parts of the story conversation we come back to most with nonprofit leaders, written down with a “try this” exercise on every page.
11+
Years inside nonprofit fundraising100+
Orgs served$200M+
RaisedWhat’s inside
Six short chapters for a stronger year-end
Five of them end with a try-this exercise you can finish in a few minutes. Work through them with your team before your appeal goes out.
The hero
Your organization is the guide
The hero is the person your mission serves. The donor comes alongside the guide. A quick test for every sentence in your appeal.
The stories
The stories you already have
What’s happening, the need, the idea and the success story. Where they come from, how to capture one in 30 seconds and build a story library.
Everywhere
Tell it more than once
People act when a story reaches them again from someone they trust. A channel map plus a week-by-week planner from November 1 to December 31.
Segments
Who needs to hear something different
How one year-end plan split its list, the two rules it followed, and a worksheet for the sentence each group needs to hear.
Multiply it
Start with the story, then multiply it
Human-sourced, AI-multiplied, human-gated. What goes in your mission brain, and where AI does not belong.
From Colleen & Scott
The stories are already there.
Place the person you serve as the hero of those stories, share them in more places, and let AI multiply your efforts.
We wrote this guide for the leaders we spend our days with. Two co-founders, 11+ years inside nonprofit fundraising, 100+ orgs served, $200M+ raised.
Colleen Cook & Scott WilliamsCo-Founders
Truly excited to take things into an automated space so that we can get good storytelling out there while I can spend more time with people.
Get the guide
Find your stories before the appeal goes out
Ten pages, five try-this exercises and a November-to-December story planner. Yours to keep, free.
Keep reading
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Build it, aim it, then launch your year-end campaign
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A donor thank-you system that runs itself
Speed of gratitude drives second gifts. Here is a donor thank-you system that gets a personal note out within a day of every gift, with a person on the part that matters.