Most writing rules exist to make English teachers feel important. Not to help you raise money.
Fundraising consultant Jeff Brooks highlights a stylebook that actually gets it right. It’s called “Dreyer’s English,” by Benjamin Dreyer, copy chief at Random House.
And right out of the gate, Dreyer does something refreshing: He blows up the rules.
Specifically, he identifies a list of what he calls “nonrules” – commonly enforced writing laws that are, in his words, “unhelpful, pointlessly constricting, feckless, and useless.”
Here’s his list of rules you should stop following immediately:
Never begin a sentence with “And” or “But.” Never split an infinitive. Never end a sentence with a preposition. No contractions in formal writing. Avoid the passive voice. No sentence fragments.
None of these hold up under scrutiny – and blindly following them drains the life right out of your fundraising copy. This matters enormously for donor appeals.
Short sentences hit harder. Fragments punch. Starting with “But” creates contrast. Starting with “And” builds momentum. Contractions make you sound human instead of like a government form.
Donors who feel like they’re reading a real letter from a real person write checks. Donors who feel like they’re reading a legal brief close the envelope and move on.
Brooks puts it simply: there’s no telling how much writing has been rendered lifeless because someone believed these nonrules must be followed.
So the next time your finance director circles a sentence fragment in red pen, or your volunteer editor insists you can’t start a sentence with “And” – hand them this article.
Then ignore them. And write copy that actually raises money.
Dr. Chuck Muth, PsD
Professor of Psephology*
(homeschooled)
* Psephology (see-follow-gee): The study of campaigns and elections