About Jen Viano

"We support a charity because it gives us a chance to love something about ourselves."

Hi, I'm Jen Viano.

This quote from Seth Godin is one of my favorites.

Why?

If you're a nonprofit professional, Board Member or volunteer working to raise funds for your favorite charity, it helps remind you of something valuable and important:

Yes, the people who give to your nonprofit care about your cause. But, first and foremost, they care about how giving to your nonprofit makes them feel about themselves.

It's only human nature, right?

People decide to donate, attend an event, volunteer or become an advocate for your nonprofit based on EMOTIONS first.

Emotions like empathy, anger, compassion, sadness, pride and even loneliness.

And research shows that when your communications are truly donor-centered (versus organization-centered), you'll be tapping into those emotions.

As a donor myself and a nonprofit writer who’s fascinated with donor behavior, I’m really passionate about the work I do helping nonprofits make deeper emotional connections with donors—connections that ultimately attract gifts and grow revenue, so nonprofits can do more to help those they serve.

MY STORY

After nearly 20 years working in nonprofit positions that include CEO, Executive Director and Director of Development, I launched Jen Viano Communications to focus on my deepest passion: Using the art of the written word to help nonprofits do a better job of attracting and cultivating lifetime donors.

Throughout my work, one thing I've always appreciated is this:

In order for any nonprofit to realize its potential for helping the people it serves, a strong donor development and fundraising program must be a priority.

And the bottom line is that you must invest in well-written, effective, polished, professional communications to attract + develop donors, raise more money and be in a position to make a greater impact with your mission-critical work.

And, for me, I've always LOVED to write.

With a BA in Communications, two decades of using words to educate + engage + persuade, specialized training in nonprofit copywriting, and with colleagues and clients saying:

“You’re a gifted writer, Jen!”

“I love the letter you wrote, it's beautiful."

"The story you wrote brought me to tears.”

I’m humbled and very happy to be serving nonprofits as a writer/consultant these days.

What does this mean for you?

As someone who's been in the trenches successfully cultivating, soliciting and stewarding donors for gifts large and small—and with creation of thousands of online/offline communications under my belt—I'm uniquely positioned to help you:

• Put the focus squarely on your donors and what THEY are helping your nonprofit accomplish by creating donor-centered communications that will attract donors + grow revenue.
• Overcome costly donor drop-out with consistent, relevant, valuable communications that donors care about. Research shows that 7 out of 10 first-time donors never give again.  
• Understand and leverage donor behavior to better tap into donor emotions for increased response + results. Tactics like using more "YOU" words than "WE" words is a good place to start.
• Increase response with more clicks around your website, sign-ups for your e-newsletter and more people making gifts.
• Change the conversation in your mind from "How much money can we raise with this person?" to "How can my nonprofit be incomparably valuable in the lives of our donors?" When your communications strategy has this as a foundation, you'll see remarkable success with attracting lifetime donors who love your nonprofit.

Through writing and consulting services that I offer, you can work with me to accomplish these kinds of results and much more.

RESULTS I HELP GENERATE

With compelling, donor-centered communications that I’ve created, results I’ve helped generate for past nonprofits I've served and clients include:

• Launching an inaugural Annual Fund Campaign securing a $50k matching gift sponsor, implementing a successful board giving challenge, and attracting new/repeat/up-leveled gifts nearly reaching $200k goal.
• Diversifying and increasing donor base by adding 750 new individual/corporate donors.
• Securing $100k in sponsorship support for re-launch of a new website.
• Crafting new thank you communications that motivated significant repeat donations.
• Growing event revenue from $30k to nearly $200k in 4 years.
• Creating gratitude mailings, annual reports + post-sponsorship reports that inspired high levels of trust, confidence, goodwill and desire to continue support.
• Securing new major gifts in the range of $1,000 - $100,000.
• Authoring dozens of grants that resulted in new/repeat funding for programs and events ranging from $100k - $5,000.
• Writing/editing a majority of content for a 140-page educational guide that helped thousands of patients, caregivers and medical professionals while serving as a major donor attraction tool – for sponsorships and individual gifts.

Visit my LinkedIn profile to learn more about my experience and results I’ve delivered to nonprofits I’ve served.

INTERESTED IN WORKING TOGETHER?

To begin exploring a writing project or consulting partnership, start here to send me a message or get in touch via email or phone.

I look forward to connecting with you soon,