This is the last of a four-part series on writing an effective fundraising letter. It's been a little while since our last entry (sorry about that!), so let's review before we wrap this up. For a fundraising letter to be successful, it must make the donor believe:
1. In your cause
2. In you
3. There’s a tangible need
4. His/her gift will make a difference
In this entry, we'll focus on convincing your donors that their gifts make a difference. So it's really two parts rolled into one. How's that for efficiency?
So, we learned that you have to build a convincing case for your cause, your organization, and the need at hand. But the final step is perhaps the most crucial: you have to make your donor believe that she is a vital part of the solution. You must convince her that you need her dollar. She can be passionate about your cause and love your organization, but if she isn't convinced beyond all doubt that you need her help, she's likely to leave the job to someone else. A successful fundraising campaign makes it easier for the donor to give than to walk away.
It's a logical conclusion to draw, but putting it into action is never as simple as stating it. Still, don't go running for the easy way out just yet...it's not that hard to convince a donor that you need his help, not the help of the man down the street or the woman two states away who received the same letter, but his help.
One of the simplest ways to do this is also the most obvious: personalization. Though it's growing ever more common to see your name on mail instead of the generic "Dear Friend," this is still an effective way to connect with your donor. A personalized letter might not blow her socks off, but it does say that you intend the letter for her. A letter addressed to just anyone offers little incentive for action... the Dear Friend leaves your donor asking "If any friend can do it, why should I?" The good news is that personalized pieces have come way down in cost in recent years. The bad news means that lower costs make personalized pieces more common, so you can't stop there.
Personalization is good. But few things are more annoying than seeing your name misspelled on a supposedly "personal" letter. No doubt this has happened to you at some point, and you are left thinking "They can't get my name right but they have the guts to ask me for money?" Yes, it's annoying -- both for the sender and the receiver. The receiver knows right away if his name is spelled wrong. The sender rarely has any way of knowing. So how can you get it right? You can't -- at least not always. But there is hope.
Renting your mailing lists from reputable sources is one of the most important places you can start. Another crucial step is to be sure you accurately key in donor information on your end. Check, recheck, and check again the spelling of your donors' names when you input their information into your database. Often people will call when their names are spelled wrong on the mailings and they want to get involved anyway -- make note of the change and then change the information. The quality of mercy may not be strained once, but after asking for corrections? Come on. Even Portia would have to reconsider.
That brings me to another trick for accurately keeping track of your donors' information. Include a space on the reply card for your donors to update their personal and contact information. Again, be sure to record the changes lest you find a Shylock in your midst.
A simple phone call to thank a donor who made an unusually large gift for his giving history is an easy, inexpensive way to show that you care. It also tells the donor that you know him. If you don't have the capability to track and flag gifts in that way, then you need to upgrade your system. In the meantime, try picking a handful of donors and calling them to say thank you. Don't ask for anything -- just thank them for their support.
Asking donors for feedback is another great way to show that you care about them. Ask them to write and share a story that ties in to your organization's mission. For example, if you run a sponsorship program, ask donors to tell you how their lives have been touched by sponsoring a child. Then share that information with other potential donors. Stories give your donors a personality and let them know that they're worth more to you than just their latest gift.
But don't stop there. Remember, step #4 is really two parts. You have to convince your donors that theirgifts will make a difference. I've walked you through convincing them about their gifts. But how do you make them believe that $25 really will make a difference in the grand scope of things? Magic. Ok, well, not really magic. Just good writing. All right, fine. Not just good writing. Good writing and balance. There. Are you happy?
Moving stories and eloquent writing are good. But the donor needs to believe that the task at hand is not only urgent, it's possible. Just about everyone will agree that world peace is a worthy cause. It's going to take a lot more than pretty writing though to convince me that my gift of $25 or $100 or even $1,000 will really make a difference to world peace. Now, saving a starving child's life or supporting a rehabilitation program? That's a different story. I can see how that can be tackled successfully.
When you express your need, make sure you have broken it down sufficiently for your donors. Include some concrete steps that you are taking to fulfill your mission. Tell the donor exactly what her gift will accomplish. Convince her that her gift really will make a difference.
For example, don't just tell your donor that there are thousands of impoverished orphans where you work and won't he please send a gift to help them. That won't work. Tell your donor about one orphan and how that orphan longs to go school so that she can grow up and be a doctor. Then, tell your donor that there are thousands of stories just like this one. His gift of $50 or even $200 will help build a school for the orphans and bring hope to their future. Now that sounds doable.
So just how do you write a successful fundraising letter?
Break it down. Tell your story directly to your donor (personalization), and balance your desperation with your inspiration. Let your donor see that your cause is worthy, your organization is worthy, and her gift really will make a difference. Do all this through telling a story and you've got yourself a winner.
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