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Tips for fundraising letter campaigns – some might shock you!

Build your mailing list - stat If you haven’t started building your mailing list – start today! Getting an email address is the first critical step to figuring out who your supporters are. The best way to grow a list is to offer a regular email newsletter that has valuable info.  Consider using contests, petitions and events to grow your mailing list.

Determine who your fundraising letters will come from Fundraising works best when it is one person writing to another person. Who will be writing this letter? The Director or CEO? Your patron? Your client? The Chair of the Board?

Understand your target audience Who do you want this to go to? All donors? All donors and never-givers? Only people that have not given this year? Direct mail studies show your best gift prospects are from people that recently gave.

Use "I" and "You," but mostly "You." Think of how you would write a letter to another person, like your Mum. The letter isn’t about your organisation –it’s about your donors. Make sure donors know what their donation will go toward and how they can help.

 Appeal to emotions Appeal to readers’ deepest feelings, like worldview and beliefs about humanity, hope for a better world for their children, sense of justice and fairness, etc. This means talking about “your concern for the world,” “your past support for justice,” “your assistance made a real difference,” “the difference you will make.”

Grab their attention Using the person’s name is important. Grab the reader’s attention – Start your letter with something that will captivate: a bold question, statement or story of a specific person or situation. “We are at an absolutely critical point in the fight for a fair, sustainable future for humanity. And we need your help.”

Tell a story Studies show statistics kill fundraising results. To enhance your letter, create an emotional message that encourages readers to act. People love to hear about other people. Focus on that one person’s story—what’s their name? What’s their situation? Why is it so urgent to support someone like them?

Provide an update Update reader on what their last donation achieved – Research shows that telling donors what their last donation achieved before asking for another gift is key.

Make it urgent! Give readers a reason to send money NOW. Create a sense of urgency with a deadline for a matching donation, or mention a budget period or a particular holiday.

Be repetitive People often need repeated reminders to be moved to action. Don’t assume everyone received and read every previous email or letter. Many people want to give more than once a year, or at least be reminded to do so

Ask and ask and you shall receive Don’t forget to ask for money specifically. Too many letters dance around the real request.  You’re asking for money – make that clear.

Don’t forget a P.S. Always include a P.S. that briefly reiterates your most important message. The P.S. and the first sentence as considered the most important components of the fundraising letter. Decades of eye motion studies show that it is the first part of the fundraising letter a donor reads after their name.

Long letters outperform shorter ones Most fundraising letters are at least 3 pages. Many are longer!

Make it scannable Many people will read every word of your letter while others may just scan it. It’s important to make it skimmable. Something people can scan and get the gist of in seconds. Help the reader find your key points with underlining, bold face, italics.

Write a package, not a letter. The letter is the most important item in your package, but it is only a part of a multi-piece unit that must all work together. At the very least, your package should contain an outer envelope, a reply envelope, and a reply device (donation form), as well as the letter.

Create a campaign specific donation page Having one general donation page is a bad idea. A simple, special page dedicated solely to collecting money from this campaign is best. Make it look and feel of the website the same as the fundraising letter. Don’t leave out the online giving form as part of your direct mail process.

Follow up with a thank you Say thank you quickly, personally, accurately. The thank you is the first step in securing a future gift. This will make your next campaign easier.

Thanks for listening! Any questions? www.edoqld.org.au @EDOQldLaw This material is for information purposes and is not legal advice.