Look for Connection, Not Cash, in Prospective Direct Mail Donors

I received an email the other day that reads as follows:

–letter starts–

Hello Mr. Raiser,
My name is _______. I work for a non profit organization, the ____________. We are in a season of taking the ministry international and also growing and empowering the ministries within. I would like to draft up a professional letter, that will go out to major corporations and empowered people, asking for donations, and for it in return be a tax write off! My goal is to mail/email a donation letter to different large companies and multi-millionaires example Oprah Winfrey, Donald Trump. I’m not sure at all as to how to even begin the letter. Please help!

–letter ends–

I cannot give any helpful advice on how to begin a letter like that because a letter like that shouldn’t be started.

The most important quality to look for in a potential direct mail donor is a connection with your cause. You shouldn’t be looking for millionaires, or billionaires.

Direct mail fundraising works by soliciting small gifts from lots of people regularly. Even retired folks can give you a small gift.

Look for connection, not capacity. Donald Trump has capacity. But does he have any connection with an obscure charity with a narrow case for support that wants him to make a donation because of the tax write off? Not likely.

Look for people who have connection, not just cash. A widower on a pension who has been touched by your ministry is a better candidate for a direct mail donation than a millionaire who has no clue what you do, or where you do it, or why. An individual who lives around the corner and believes in you is a better bet for a direct mail gift than an employee in a multinational corporation headquartered in another state who manages corporate donations but doesn’t know you from Eve.

Look for friends, not funds.

Find more help in my new, 270-page book: Mail Superiority. Learn the proven, step-by-step process for raising funds and friends cost effectively, year after year.

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