What is a "swipe file?"

  Productivity resources for your nonprofit and fundraising work

The email came from BizTree, the makers of Business-in-a-Box, a software program that has hundreds of business related templates. Here's what the message said... (see if you can relate!)

Let's face it. We've all got too much on our plate. We try to cram in so many different activities in our days, that we often ask ourselves "What happened to my free time?" It doesn't need to be this way.

"Don't Work If You Don't Need To" We at Biztree believe that when something, like a document template, is done right and by a professional, there's no need to do it again and again, and again...The Lesson: Don't reinvent the wheel. Use a template.

"Free Your Time" You've heard the pitch before. On late night infomercials or those websites that hijack your session. Some guru wearing a long Nehru shirt telling you that the "Key To More Free Time" lies in his secret method. Baloney! Man invented electricity, and then computers, to make our lives easier.

This message reminded me how incredibly helpful templates and samples really are when trying to write something.

Some people say that using a template or sample when writing a fundraising letter is cheating. That using a sample or template diminishes the quality and you have to totally start from scratch to create a unique letter. I could not disagree more! 

Often in nonprofit work we're asked to do things that we've never been trained on. Maybe you started out in service delivery or have moved to nonprofit work from the business world. Now you're in management or development and have to write fundraising letters?  Looking at samples can surely help in this situation! 

Additionally small nonprofit office may not have the budget to hire a big time direct mail company to handle their marketing and communications. There are some great consultants who offer reasonable rates and direct mail companies that do a great job. But most nonprofits can't use an outside service for every mailing.

I've been collecting letters from nonprofits for years. Professional copywriters call this a "swipe file." I'm on so many mailing lists that I get at least one letter a day! Now I don't save most of them since I have several big binders worth as you can see here.

The real problem with templates and sample letters is when you try to carbon copy them exactly. I've heard from people who want to see an exact sample letter for their particular cause they can just take and reuse. It does not work that way. Even if you're with a nonprofit with a commonly known mission, say an animal shelter, you could not take a letter one shelter used and send a nearly word-for-word letter yourself.

On the bright side, templates and writing samples can give you ideas for style, format and wording. You may discover the perfect phrase, or even just one word, that captures what you would like to say. These tools can increase productivity and help your writing be more creative and effective.

Here's an analogy...the last time you were job hunting, did you go to the bookstore or library to check out sample resume and cover letter books? I sure did. Of course I couldn't copy them exactly, but they sure helped!

Resources to increase productivity in your nonprofit & fundraising work

Here are three products that I'm affiliated with that will help you be more productive and created more effective communications...

The book 7 Essential Steps to Raising Money by Mail that Sandy Rees and I created has three sections, two of which are made up of sample phrases, letters and other writing suggestions. There are 29 sample letters and 321 sample words and phrases.

I used one of the sample letters in the book as an example of great writing strategies and as a sort of template pointing out the 12 items to include in donation letters. You can get an idea of what else is included in this book by taking a look at the table of contents.

You have a dictionary and a thesaurus (if not on your desk, at least online!) You also need the Fundraiser's Phrase Book from Gail Hamilton. It provides thousands of powerful phrases to help you with fundraising letters, grant applications, newsletters and other communications.

The edition that I have is an older spiral bound version, but Gail published a paperback version earlier this year. I imagine they are very similar; the new one is comparable in length at 476 pages! It's really easy to find phrases by topic or even just by word.

Finally, I have to include Business-in-a-Box since they inspired this newsletter article in the first place! This software provides many great templates to help run your nonprofit office. I first found out about this product when a former colleague started working there. She sent me a review copy about a year ago and I've used it several times since then.

Just like a corporate job, in nonprofits there's still administrative issues you have to deal with.  This software helps you tackle those by providing writing samples and templates. There's employee contracts, yearly performance reviews, contracts, letters and tons of other forms.

With these tools you can be more productive, creative, and get more results. (Maybe you can even leave your office at the end of the day on time for a change!)