How do you measure success? We're not talking about your life's worth here (though your answer in that context is uber important, too). No, we're talking about the much easier to measure, though often no less scary, world of fundraising.

So, how do you measure your fundraising success? Your answer to that question could alter your next fundraising campaign completely.

If your answer was, "Measure? Hmmm. That's an interesting idea. Let's try it sometime," then, stick with us baby, because you're gonna need it.

As we stumble into November, it's probably hitting most of you that the end of the year is just around the corner. And, given the fact that you're all human, you're probably just now starting to think about your year-end appeal, even though you swore to yourself last year (and the year before) that you wouldn't leave this crucial mailing for the last minute.

No worries. We have some ideas that will keep the ball rolling and help you create a winning year-end appeal.

In dealing with different organizations and their fundraising programs, I've noticed that the line between newsletters and appeal (fundraising) letters is often blurry; sometimes it's been erased completely. For smaller nonprofits, this is especially understandable since very limited budgets often push them to try (unsuccessfully) to include everything in each mailing.

Newsletters and appeal letters are not interchangeable.Though they have some elements in common, each has its own requirements for success, and each plays its own intricate roll in an organization's fundraising program.

That's the message in the new Communications Evaluation Guide, published by The Communication Network.

In a post about the guide, Katya Andresen of Robin Hood Marketing fame, highlights the steps the guide will take you through in your evaluation: