In this final fundraising intensive of 2025, we’ll doing a deep dive on fundraising appeals! Just in time for calendar year-end fundraising planning, this session will cover the most important parts of a compelling fundraising appeal, both in direct mail and email.
Bring a previous appeal or a draft of your 2025 appeal for workshopping! After diving into expert tips and strategies for making your appeal the best it can be, participants will have the chance to critique one another’s copy and strategy as well as receive feedback from GiveMN’s Senior Director of Community Impact.
Participants will walk away with re-vamped fundraising copy, increased confidence in the effectiveness of their campaign, and new ideas to test with their audiences. This intensive is best suited for nonprofit leaders of small-to-medium size organizations with a confident understanding of the donor cycle and individual fundraising tactics. Prior experience in fundraising copywriting and/or nonprofit communications is helpful but not required.
About the Facilitator:
You’ll be joined by Courtney Backen (she/her), GiveMN’s Senior Director of Community Impact. With over a decade of experience in individual fundraising for various causes including public libraries and public media, environmental protection, youth homelessness, and more. She has written dozens of fundraising appeals in her career and holds a deep understanding of both the creative side of fundraising, such as copywriting and storytelling, as well as the technical side of fundraising, such as response rates and segmentation.
About the Facilitator:
In this fundraising intensive, you’ll be guided through the steps of donor acquisition by GiveMN’s Senior Director of Community Impact, Courtney Backen. Courtney (she/her) has over a decade of experience in individual fundraising for various causes including public libraries and public media, environmental protection, youth homelessness, and more. One of her fundraising superpowers includes direct mail donor acquisition and working with list brokers and mail houses to execute comprehensive fundraising campaigns. As Membership Manager at Friends of the Hennepin County Library, Courtney leveraged direct mail acquisition to grow their membership program from 7,500 households to 10,000+ in under five years.
Format: Two small-group, in-person sessions: Thursday, August 14, 9 am–4 pm (1-hour self-provided lunch break), and Friday, August 15, 8 am–12 pm.
Price: $1,500 per person
Accessibility note: RaiseMN is committed to providing accessible learning and development services for nonprofits and schools. Accommodations are available upon request by reaching out to info@givemn.org.