Kranz On Copy: Insights and answers on copywriting and writing copy

I'm not an expert on non-profit fundraising, but I'm fascinated by the subject and, as a volunteer for the Notre Dame High School in Lawrence, have a real interest in learning what works.

I recently tackled the subject on a Daily Fix post and participated in a panel discussion at the recent NEDMA conference that touched on the topic. The big issue seems to concern engaging a new generation of givers, particularly among the Baby Boomers, a group that doesn't have the same kind of charitable impulse as the "Greatest Generation" that preceded them. They'll give -- but they want to give on their own terms.

So it's in that context that I found a letter from Zoo New England very interesting. Zoo New England is the umbrella organization of two zoos in or near Boston. It's always struggling for money. I'm a loyal member and get their mail regularly.

This one came in an invitation-sized envelope. Inside was a single fold announcement -- and this was the clever part: they packaged a request for money around a "baby shower" theme built around the birth of two jaguar cubs. Smart! First, they gave me news I was likely to be interested in; second, they used it in an unobtrusive way to hit me up for more money.

What have you seen that was clever and effective?

This one is almost too good (actually, bad) to be true: guy calls AOL to cancel his account and is subjected to the worst kind of customer representative blather -- to the point of outright rudeness.

Find the link to the entire conversation here.

The latest issue of RainToday features Burying The Billable Hour: When Will You Catch On? an angry, urgent article on the folly of hourly billing. Written by Ronald J. Baker as a screed against the practices of the accounting industry, it really applies to any professional service.

For me, the argument boils down to this: when you hire me to write something, you're not paying for my time, you're paying for results. If, by virtue of my talent, experience and expertise, I can achieve a client's objectives in 3 hours, why should I be paid less than the shlub who does the same (or usually much less) in 15?

It's silly, right? But like the advertising-equals-marketing equation, it's a holdover from another era that's been as tenacious as a pit bull's bite on a postman's leg. Just a month ago, a colleague of mine insisted that, after all, project billing is based on hours, right?

Wrong. It's based on value. Anything less means fraud for clients and drudgery for providers.