Category Archives: Fundraising letters
Answer the Only Question Donors Have and You’ll Raise More Money Fundraising
Your donors have only one question that bothers them. If you want to acquire more donors, you have to answer it. If you want to raise more net revenue, you need to answer it. And if you want to increase … Continue reading
Direct Mail Fundraising Still More Effective than Email
Yes, grandma tweets daily about her arthritis and buys her cat food on eBay, but how does she prefer to donate, online or offline? Yes, mailing a fundraising letter costs more than sending an email appeal. But which method brings … Continue reading
Win Board Approval for Your Fundraising Budget by Calculating Your Long-Term Donor Value
The ten dumbest words ever spoken in the English language are: “We don’t have money in our fundraising budget for that.” The people who say this most often are board members. Uninformed board members. Timid board members. Board members who … Continue reading
Give Your Donors What They Want so You Get What You Want
Thank your donors promptly and personally every time they mail you a gift. Describe how you are using the donor’s last gift the way the donor intended. The majority of long-term, faithful donors give to make a difference, and many … Continue reading
Questions to Answer Before Requesting a Quote from a Direct Mail Fundraising Consultant
If your charity wants to retain the services of a direct mail fundraising firm to conduct your next mailing, answer these questions before you pick up the phone. You’ll save yourself a lot of time, and give the firm everything … Continue reading
Five Indisputable Laws of Direct Mail Donor Acquisition
I am not a prophet, I am not the son of a prophet, but I do serve on the board of a non-profit. And I’ve discovered through the years that charities who succeed at acquiring donors through the mail obey … Continue reading
Dramatize Your Fundraising Letters with Client Testimonials
A reader of my newsletter asked me: “How do I most effectively integrate a participant story into an annual campaign ask letter? What effective ways do you see participant stories being told in a letter? Could a story/profile be attached … Continue reading
Direct Mail Donor Acquisition Tests: Five Ways to Evaluate Your Results
If you drop a donor acquisition package in the mail as a test and it generates a response rate of 17%, can you say your campaign was a success? No. If your donor acquisition test mailing generates an average gift … Continue reading
How to Get a Second Gift from a New Direct Mail Donor
If your charity is at all typical, you will lose 65% of the donors you acquire by direct mail in the first year alone. In other words, only 35% of the donors you acquire through direct mail will give you … Continue reading
Twenty Postal Strike Survival Tips for Charities and Non-Profits
What should you do if your charity raises money through the mail but your country’s postal workers are about to strike, or are already on strike? Naturally, you’re troubled. Most charities in Canada that are not places of worship raise … Continue reading
Avoid Photos in Your Fundraising Letters
In today’s mail you receive two pieces of mail, a letter from someone you know, and a brochure. Which one will you read first? Which one will you read all the way to the end? Likely the letter, right? A … Continue reading
Does Asking for a Gift in Thank-You Letters Help or Harm? Test and Find Out
Don’t listen to fundraising consultants like me who say you should never ask for a gift in a thank-you letter. That’s what I used to say before I was hired by a non-profit that did ask for donations in its … Continue reading
Fundraising Letters: Casanova Never Mailed One Love Letter a Year, So Neither Should You
The worst thing you can do in direct mail fundraising is mail only one appeal a year. Direct mail is part of your annual campaign, yes. But that doesn’t mean you should mail only one fundraising letter every 12 months. … Continue reading
Boost Direct Mail Fundraising Response Rates Three Ways
What percentage of your donor base sends your organization a gift each year? If you are at all typical, less than half of your donors at any given time are active. So how can you increase the percentage of your … Continue reading
Help Donors Read Your Fundraising Letters Quickly
Your donor is busy or in a hurry. Or both. That means your fundraising letter is an interruption. Your donor is doing something else when your appeal arrives. Busy donors in a hurry are unlikely to read your letter word … Continue reading
In Public Speaking, Use Eye Contact to Show You Honestly Care
Want to learn a vital lesson in public speaking from the CIA? Make eye contact with your listeners. —————————————————————- Receive a free fundraising tip like this each week by email. Sign up for Raiser Sharpe Tips here Browse Alan’s books, … Continue reading
How Long is a Long Fundraising Letter?
How long should your direct mail fundraising letter be? One page? Two pages? Six pages? If your charity is typical, over the years you’ve had board members and executive directors who’ve never allowed your organization to mail long letters. Visit … Continue reading
To Write Better Fundraising Letters, Attend AA
Some of the most gripping and moving stories I’m ever likely to hear, I heard at AA meetings. You see, at every Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, a man or woman in recovery is invited to tell their story. Every story is … Continue reading
Top Five Ingredients of a Successful Fundraising Letter
Direct mail fundraising will be harder in 2011. Postage rates are increasing. Attention spans are decreasing. And discretionary income, which is to say, the money your donors use to support their favourite causes, is tighter. So, if you want to … Continue reading
Boost Fundraising Letter Response Rates by Making Responding Convenient
I had a client who wanted to drive prospective customers to his online store using a postcard. Great idea, I thought, and cost effective. He had a terrific product, a compelling offer, and a sound business model. He had just … Continue reading
Six Easy Ways to Warm Up a Fundraising Letter Appeal
Which would you read first (and right to the end): a typed, generic fundraising letter from the Red Cross or a hand-written letter from your grandma Hostetler in Muleshoe, TX? I’d choose the personal letter over the impersonal every time. … Continue reading
Improve Fundraising Letters by Writing to Emelia, Not to Everyone
A few years ago I sat down with my lawyer to sign my Last Will and Testament. I had never had a Will before, so I hired a lawyer to draft a Will that was clear, expressed my wishes, and … Continue reading
Can You Write a One-Sentence Fundraising Letter?
In New York City, publishing capital of the world, lives an unorthodox book editor. He does not read manuscripts from aspiring authors. Instead, he asks the author to summarize the plot in five words. If the author can capture the … Continue reading
Write Your Fundraising Letters Like a Search Engine
You can lose a direct mail donation quicker than you think. So your primary goal at the start of your fundraising letter is to demonstrate relevance. You must prove, and quickly, that what you have to say is relevant to … Continue reading
Four Steps to Better Donation Letter Reply Devices
Successful direct mail donation letters contain three things: a compelling case for support, a request for funds (the “ask”), and a response device. The case is the Incentive. The ask is the Imperative. And the response device is the Instrument. —————————————————————- Receive … Continue reading
Why a Convicted Felon Should Write your Next Fundraising Letter
I know a man who spent 21 years in maximum security prisons. A product of rape born in an abandoned building, he was incarcerated at age eight into Canada’s most violent and brutal reform school. He became a chronic runaway, … Continue reading
Online Fundraising: Are these Four Vital Words on your Website?
Your success at online fundraising depends on four words. If you want to acquire members and donors, raise funds and encourage others to advocate for your cause, these four words must appear on your website. —————————————————————- Receive a free fundraising … Continue reading
Dear Alan, What do you Recommend for Reminder Letters?
Dear Alan, Do you have any suggestions for the (post direct mail) reminder letter? I would love your thoughts on the letter as well as the donation form. Thanks, Shannon Brown —————————————————————- Receive a free fundraising tip like this each … Continue reading
Dear Alan, What is a “Back Test” in direct mail fundraising?
A Back Test is a mailing designed to reproduce, and therefore confirm, the results of a recent direct mail test. Also called a retest or confirming test. Usually run when the results of a test fall within an acceptable range … Continue reading
Dear Alan, What does “alphanumeric” mean in direct mail fundraising?
Alphanumeric: A set of characters that contains letters and numbers, and perhaps punctuation marks, such as a Key code: JUN-0909-L21. Learn more at the Glossary of Direct Mail Fundraising —————————————————————- Receive a free fundraising tip like this each week by … Continue reading
How to Help Your Lettershop Bungle Your Fundraising Campaign
I know from reliable sources that the Mr. Murphy who coined Murphy’s Law (“If something can go wrong, it will”) worked as an account manager at a lettershop. After leaving his position of direct mail fundraising manager at a national … Continue reading
Quiz: Do You Write to Someone, or Everyone, in Your Donation Request Letters?
The secret to success in direct mail fundraising is to write to an individual, not to a list. Write to someone, not to everyone. Take this short quiz to discover if your appeal letters are personal or impersonal. —————————————————————- Receive … Continue reading
dpiv3z6n28
dpiv3z6n28 —————————————————————- Receive a free fundraising tip like this each week by email. Sign up for Raiser Sharpe Tips here Browse Alan’s books, handbooks and tools about fundraising. Visit the fundraising bookstore —————————————————————-
Fundraising Letter Length: Six Ways Not to Decide
How long should your next fundraising letter be? One page? Two pages? Six pages? What is the correct length for a direct mail appeal? I’ll tell you in a minute. —————————————————————- Receive a free fundraising tip like this each week … Continue reading
In Fundraising Letters, Prove Relevance by Unseating Popular Icons
One of the quickest ways to win the attention of your distracted donors is to take a popular icon and make it a villain. By linking your cause with a trend or fad, and by taking a contrarian view, you … Continue reading
No Such Thing as a Fundraising Letter
If you want to be successful at raising money with fundraising letters, the first lesson you must learn is that there’s no such thing as a fundraising letter. —————————————————————- Receive a free fundraising tip like this each week by email. … Continue reading
kwces4zvyh
kwces4zvyh —————————————————————- Receive a free fundraising tip like this each week by email. Sign up for Raiser Sharpe Tips here Browse Alan’s books, handbooks and tools about fundraising. Visit the fundraising bookstore —————————————————————-
Not All Wealthy Direct Mail Donors Live in Upscale Neighbourhoods
If you look for wealthy donors in all the usual places you’ll receive the usual result. Disappointment. —————————————————————- Receive a free fundraising tip like this each week by email. Sign up for Raiser Sharpe Tips here Browse Alan’s books, handbooks … Continue reading
Are Your Fundraising Letters Too Short?
Casanova never penned a one-page love letter. So neither should you. I write fundraising letters for some of the most well-known non-profits in North America, and not one of them has ever hired me to write a one-page fundraising letter. … Continue reading
Use Quotations in Your Fundraising Appeal Letters to Inspire and Motivate Your Donors.
Next time you write a letter to a donor but can’t think of the best way to express yourself, let someone else do it for you. Someone like Mother Theresa. Mark Twain. Rosa Parks. Ernest Hemmingway. —————————————————————- Receive a free … Continue reading
Don’t Mail a #10 Fundraising Letter Envelope if You Want to Stand Out
What would you do if I mailed you a package of black and white photos? Would you throw the package in the trash unopened? —————————————————————- Receive a free fundraising tip like this each week by email. Sign up for Raiser … Continue reading
Donation Request Letters Need Strong Protagonists
Do your donation request letters lack a protagonist? The most compelling appeal letters feature a man or a woman, a boy or a girl, that captures the donor’s attention and makes the appeal human, moving and profitable. Continue reading
Write Better Fundraising Letters by Making a Scene
Successful fundraising letters are exciting to read. They take you to crack houses, battlefields, logging protests, prisons, floods and other places you will never set foot yourself. Effective donation request letters show you the organizations you support engaged on the front lines in the battle to right wrongs, correct injustices and make the world a better place. They put you in the thick of the action. And they usually do this by making a scene.
Continue reading
Your Donors Deserve Pity (In Your Fundraising Letters)
Back in 1985, which I now realize is more than 20 years ago, a homeless man stood at the corner of College and Yonge streets, in downtown Toronto, begging for money. Continue reading
Do Your Donors Hear Voices (in Your Donation Request Letters)?
Fundraising letters are about people. People talk. So your fundraising letters should include the voices of people. Continue reading
How to Write a Fundraising Letter (4 Tips).
Address your reader as a friend, not as “Friend.” When was the last time you received a letter from someone dear to you, addressing you as “Dear Friend?” Never, right? —————————————————————- Receive a free fundraising tip like this each week … Continue reading
