Success Notebook

Title:

Fundraising Letters

Note:

Notes taken from a workshop presented by Bill Winter at Success '97 (notes taken by Stacy Van Oast)

Type:

Notes from Success 99

Article:

General Tips:

Keep in mind whenever you are asking for money that you are providing a service.
Tell people what you've done an what you plan to do to achieve progress and success.
Longer letters do better:

you can address all concerns and potential concerns
different kinds of readers and long letters are OK for all:

those that throw unopened envelope away - length of letter irrelevant
those that read only beginning and ending - length of letter irrelevant
skimmers can pick up more points from a longer letter
passionate readers love long letters

Make the letter compelling
Paragraphs and bullets should be no more than 3 sentences or items; break longer ones in half

How to write a fundraising letter:

Good news - always start the letter with a series of good news bullets to build momentum and make entire letter entertaining and informative

use foreshadowing to tease reader and keep him reading
create a "widow" at the end of the first page (a thought that's finished on second page) to make reader turn the page

Describe what you want to do next

tell what you're going to do,
why you're going to do it,
how you're going to do it, and
what results you expect

List contribution amounts
Remind readers that their contribution is your budget and that your successes have been possible because of their past contributions - Thank them!
Use P.S.'s for skimmers

may titillate skimmers and get them to read the entire letter
to create urgency

*Expect results of $1.50 to $2.00 per letter mailed.

*Fundraising letters are easier to produce than newsletters and you can share news and the same information. If you can't do both a newsletter and a fundraising letter, it's better to just do the fundraising letter.

*Fundraising letters create a continuity of membership; the more letters you send, the amount per person should go up

*3-5% of people every month will respond

*Regular fundraising letters will get people in the habit of giving

*Ask for monthly pledge (100% of credit card pledges are fulfilled; 70% of others are fulfilled)

*Under promise and over-deliver

Attachments:

Created at 11/4/2006 7:53 PM by padmin

Last modified at 11/4/2006 8:13 PM by padmin