How to use quotes in supporter-facing copy
Quotes are a vital ingredient of ethical and compelling charity storytelling. They can bring readers closer to your cause, reinforce messaging, evidence impact, and challenge inequity and prejudice. This blog shares seven best-practice tips for how to use quotes in fundraising and supporter-engagement resources.
Quoting the people who directly access, witness, deliver or champion your cause can make a meaningful difference when you’re trying to cultivate or maintain support.
More importantly, we have a responsibility as third sector communicators to amplify the reflections, thoughts, experiences and opinions of the people and communities we work with.
This sentiment extends to our partners, delivery teams, external experts and volunteers.
Quotes should be the beating heart of your communications—and a privilege to share with the world.
7 top tips
1. Reflect reality
Quotes must present a balanced and recognisable reflection of reality.
Importantly, would the owner of your quote recognise their reality in your copy?
It’s worth asking yourself this because it’s the quote owner’s experience that really matters—not yours—however empathetic your intentions.
If your quote owner isn’t available to give feedback, consider asking someone closer to the story than yourself, such as a programme lead.
2. No cherry-picking
Continually interrogate your copy drafts to ensure you’re not cherry-picking elements of a quote or interview transcript to build an alternative narrative.
Over the decades, our sector has made extremely harmful communication choices in a bid to make compelling cases for fundraising.
This should never have been acceptable.
Selective truths that conceal or ignore the wider context of someone’s life, a situation, or issue, deepen prejudices, promote dangerous ideologies, and strengthen power imbalances.
As today’s third sector professionals, we must be agents of change.
We must uphold that a recognisable, dignified and ethical representation of reality is the only conscionable way to tell stories.
3. Offer prime positions
It’s not enough to just include quotes. Location is everything.
Layouts have prime real estate where quotes will garner more attention and carry more weight.
To take your readers’ attention to the quotes in your copy, try:
using quotes as headers, standfirsts or sub-headings (not all at once!)
selecting pull quotes to receive a prominent design treatment
ensuring quotes feature at regular intervals from start to finish
(in a letter) adding a quote to a PS—these are notoriously well-read.
The strategic placement of quotes will guide readers, even skim readers, to the voices that matter most.
Furthermore, the validating impact of quotes will help to reassure current and prospective supporters of your ability to deliver impact.
4. Regulate tone
Quotes in supporter-facing copy can broadly (and somewhat crudely) be considered as positive, negative or neutral in tone (because we should be selecting unambiguous quotes that are simple to understand).
A fictional example:
“I see changes now; I can buy fresh vegetables and cooking oil” (positive).
“I had a lot of worries; I didn’t know how I’d feed my child” (negative).
“Affording meals for my child was a challenge, but now they’re eating at least one nutritious meal a day” (negative then positive = neutral).
In fundraising copy, we tend to tell stories about problems, challenges and injustices.
Often, we unintentionally overwhelm our readers with powerful but negative quotes.
In such copy, I find a good quote-ratio is two-thirds negative, one-third positive (as a minimum amount of positivity).
Ethically, you’ll be helping to portray the recognisable reality that we talked about earlier.
Strategically, you’ll be helping to prevent donor fatigue and overwhelm*, either by demonstrating tangible impact or offering a nuanced sense of relief.
*Disillusioned donor: ‘This problem is too large for anyone, least of all me, to make a difference.’
5. Flip the formula
Quotes are often added to copy to validate the narrative, ie, the charity makes a statement, an affirming quote follows.
Try flipping this formula.
Lead with a quote, and let your copy follow—cementing or expanding the point.
This structural flip can help to centre and amplify the voices that matter.
It puts your narrative where it should be: in service to other people’s thoughts, feelings and opinions.
Please note, although this approach works well in article, blog and social post copy, it doesn’t always suit letter copy. This is because the reader generally expects to be led by the voice of the signatory.
6. No presumptions. No projections
This is a nice and simple tip to state, but it requires self-reflection to nail in practice.
Don’t presume other people’s hopes, feelings or fears.
Don’t project your own.
Root your narrative in the quotes and facts available to you.
7. Format flawlessly
Support your readers, even skim readers, to effortlessly identify and engage with your quotes by consistently formatting them.
You should always format consistently within a single resource, but ideally within a brand too.
If your charity has quote formatting rules in its Brand house style, follow them. If it doesn’t, request them from your brand owner.
If you don’t have a Brand house style document, start panicking yesterday. (Not really, just ask StudioGW for a quote, we’d love to hear from you).
House style rules typically determine:
whether to use single or double quote marks
whether to introduce quotes with a colon or semicolon
whether to bold quotes
whether to hang quotes
whether you need to change font and/or weight for pull quotes
how to attribute quotes.
(Please note, this is not an exhaustive list.)
With flawless formatting your quotes will be more accessible and make a greater impact on your readers.
I hope you’ll find these seven tips supportive in practice.
Give them a go—I guarantee you’ll feel your copy is at least one of these:
more compelling
more engaging
more persuasive
more informative
more ethical (saving the best till last).
StudioGW’s creatives are experienced in the development and delivery of winning copy for good causes—just read our testimonials. Should you be in the market for copywriting or another creative service, we’d love to hear from you.
No pressure—it’s just not our style: hello@studiogw.co.uk
About the author: Claire Wood is a Founding Director of StudioGW and a Senior Creative Copywriter who specialises in fundraising and supporter engagement. Since 2008, Claire’s been writing compelling copy for good causes, including Christian Aid, Walk Wheel Cycle Trust and Hft. Her experience spans international development, decolonisation, humanitarian aid, sustainable transport, placemaking, ecology, learning disability support, education, and equity, diversity and inclusion.