I just can’t wait until 2 pm EST today, when Steve Daigneault and I will be leading a free webinar on how to avoid common storytelling pitfalls and make stories work in your fundraising appeals. If you’re interested in joining us and our partners, NTEN and Ad Council, there’s still time to register! Click here to RSVP. And if you’d like to read our storytelling whitepaper you can download the PDF right now by clicking this link. Hope to talk with you...

Are the stories you’re telling helping or hurting your organization’s efforts to inspire giving and boost involvement? Find out when you join us and our partners, NTEN and Ad Council, for a free storytelling webinar led by M+R’s Steve Daigneault and Sara Wolfson. It’s Not You, It’s Your Stories:  How your fundraising appeals can tell better stories Wednesday, February 8 2:00-3:30 PM EST We’ll cover: Why not all stories work in fundraising appeals The basic requirements to telling the right story Concrete tips you can use every time you draft an appeal Click here to...

What a fun year out there in the world. Ryan Gosling memes made millions swoon. Katy Perry tied Michael Jackson for having the most #1 songs from the same album. And clever marketers with their fingers on the pulse of society introduced a new, feline-centric approach to advertising. Looking back on the last 12 months here at M+R, we had a lot of fun, too. So without further ado… hey girl, here are the top 11 projects we had the most fun doing in 2011. 1. Name the Missing Cobra! (Wildlife Conservation Society) When the Bronx Zoo’s Egyptian cobra went missing, the snake became the talk of...

Mashed potatoes, freshly carved turkey, and cranberry sauce. Boy was I stuffed after Thanksgiving dinner last week. But my pants weren’t the only thing busting from the seams – so was my inbox. Every year, more and more organizations send out “thank you” emails around Thanksgiving. I got at least four emails with the exact phrase, “we’re thankful for you.” While it’s important to thank your supporters, is there something else you can do to make your organization’s Thanksgiving message stand out? We saw a lot of Thanksgiving emails last week. Most of...

Every year, our client, the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), has to fight for its city funding – but this year the stakes were especially high. While it was a tough year for a lot of local governments and many organizations were feeling the pain, the budget proposal in front of City Hall called for an especially severe cut of more than 50% for WCS’s Bronx Zoo and New York Aquarium. We’d worked with WCS on a highly successful campaign to beat back similar cuts the year before, but with city officials scouring the budget for more and deeper cuts this time around, it was clear that we needed...