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📍What we're talking about this issue: 
The science behind aging, and how to write for your older donors

Photo by Lisa Sargent

Dear defender of good,

Want to make sure your best givers can physically read what you write? Need to defend why you make the copy and design choices you do?

This Loyalty Letter is just for you... the Older Donor Accessibility Edition. And fyi? That ‘older’ part happens a lot sooner than you think: 

How to Write for Your Most Generous Eyes and Hands  (Or: What you need to know about older donor accessibility, and why)

✍️ By Lisa Sargent
Fundraising copywriter

October 2024

Maybe they need to read your appeal letter from a little further away. Maybe they’re finding some of your blocks of copy hard to follow.

By the time your donors turn 40, their eyes are already aging. 

And by the time they “age into” becoming your most generous givers (around 65+), the vast majority of fundraising and retention communications out there almost completely disregard accessibility for older donors.

Today we’re going to make sure that inaccessible fundraising communications never happen to your nonprofit.
 

First let’s unpack the physical science behind your aging donors:

• Starting at around age 40, proteins start to break down in the lenses of the eye
• At 50+ years old, bone density in the hands can decline, decreasing a donor’s manual dexterity (prevalence greater after 65, most apparent after 75)
• Between 65 and 69, one out of every four of your donors can have cataracts that cause vision problems
• After age 70, more than half of your female donors are likely to have arthritis in their thumb (estrogen/menopause related)
• By around age 79, almost half of your supporters could be reading your content with cataracts

Sources - Cataracts/Eyes:
https://www.nei.nih.gov/learn-about-eye-health/eye-health-data-and-statistics/cataract-data-and-statistics/cataract-tables

https://www.nei.nih.gov/learn-about-eye-health/eye-conditions-and-diseases/cataracts

Hands/Arthritis:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12586852/

https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/orthopaedics-articles/2021/may/how-to-treat-arthritis-in-the-hands

If these statistics give you pause for thought, that’s a good thing... 

Because the physical science of aging is already affecting how your older givers interact with both your direct mail and your digital/online communications.

In what ways do those physical changes affect your older givers? 

For starters:

• Arthritic and older hands can be stiffer and less dexterous
• Seeing contrast and subtle color differences is less clear 
• Older eyes have trouble seeing fine or smaller print 
• Older eyes have increased sensitivity to glare/sheen  [I'm looking at you, glossy paper!]
• In eyes with cataracts, colors can seem faded 

This isn’t a doom and gloom treatise on getting older, mind you...

As a fundraising copywriter my job is to understand what it takes to connect with older givers so they want to engage with and respond to what I write (and Designer Sandie’s too, for accessible design). 

Here’s how Designer Sandie and I do it:

(1) Nice big type.

Black font on white background best (or if you use color background, watch the strength – and please use a busy background sparingly or – my preference – not at all). Large type applies to both digital and print, for the record (don’t write off your older givers online). 

(2) Watch your folds and fit. 

No, this isn’t a new diet plan :-) I’m talking about how your reader will physically interact with your direct mail pack.

If you have to fold the reply slip like origami to get it into your reply envelope, this could cause a problem for older hands.

--> Common sense pro tip: print every piece of your pack at full size, then try and interact with it yourself – I do.  

(3) Aim for generous reply (donation) forms. 

This means: regular matte paper [NOT the kind that requires a felt marker and smears ink everywhere, glossy paper I’m looking at you again!] 

AND it means ample form fields so I don’t need microscopic printing to fill in my credit card details. Think bigger boxes, and longer lines, for printing. 

(4) Strong contrast over subtle. 

If you’re in your 20s and 30s, that gray 10-point font on a darker gray background might look fine to you, but I can assure you: a 75-year-old can’t read (and won’t want to engage with) what you’re writing.

(5) Resist font trickery. 

IMTALKINGABOUTLOTSOFALLCAPSHEADLINES or endless fields of italics that older eyes (and let’s face it, ANY eyes) will struggle to track.

(6) Keep your directions, and all your copy, clear and easy to follow. 

As a Loyalty Letter subscriber you know that I write all the time about writing with emotion, compelling examples, clear calls to action, and evocative, sensory words – but let this be a reminder: you absolutely should be doing this for every-age giver.

(7) Don’t write off digital. 

Just because your donor is over 60, this does not mean they are digitally challenged. Yes, kids, lots of folks 60+ are quite capable online. 

BUT, you do want to be generous here too: Smashing Magazine recommends watching actions that require a lot of precision (dexterity, remember), adding a Back link, and avoiding disappearing messages, among other tips. 

To wrap it up, a true story...

At a huge international fundraising conference, I stopped at the booth of an agency that specializes in legacy giving. 

They had loads of samples on display, free for the taking... and after the first legacy brochure I picked up, I knew there was trouble. 

The legacy guide, designed by so-called experts in the field and specifically aimed at older givers, was:

• On glossy paper :(
• In pale gray sans serif font, about 11-point :(
• With loads of places where copy was printed over photos or busy backgrounds. :(

I could have cried. What a wasted opportunity to touch hearts and bring meaning!

So please, my smart, caring, world-changing, fundraising friends: 

As generous as your older givers want to be to your nonprofit, you need to be generous with your copy and design in return. (Great piece on age-positive design here.)

And that means you need to write and design for older eyes and older hands, and help them read, interact with, and respond to, what you send.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read today... and thank you for caring about the craft of great donor communications, for generous hearts of every age!

See you in two weeks, write with great heart, 

PS. Very cool news: for those of you who have been following the long and winding road to the publication of my book on better thanking – aptly named Thankology – it’s almost here! You can preorder from Civil Sector Press, out of Canada... or wait just a couple more weeks until I have a link for you to order from Amazon. (I proofed my ‘live test’ copy last week and let me tell you, Designer Sandie accomplished the amazing -- looking to end of October/early November publishing date.) 

PPS. If you want a super-condensed version of this Loyalty Letter to share on LinkedIn, you'll find it here. Or forward this full-length version to your colleagues, and spread the word about age-positive copy and design. Thank you! Lisa xx

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