Do you know the two most powerful words in fundraising? Yes, it’s thank you. Showing appreciation with a verbal word of thanks, thank you notes and other signs to show your thankfulness are important in maintaining positive relationships.

Of course it’s easy to show appreciation to those who have a positive outlook and gladly help your cause. But how do you react to those people who don’t always seem to be supportive in the way they talk or work with you? Some of these “difficult people” may actually be some of your most active volunteers, donors, corporate sponsors or organization staff people. So what do you do?

Mike Robbins has a great article about how to deal with difficult people by showing them appreciation. This approach is really more about changing your own attitude rather than trying to change theirs. The person may or may not change but you’ll feel more peaceful and happy yourself. It’s a great read with some great advice: Appreciating “Difficult” People.

(Thanks to Kristie T at Webmomz.com who recently featured this article in her e-zine.)

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Earlier this month in the Fundraising Letters Q&A Audio Seminar I discussed one of the most frequently asked questions, “What makes a fundraising letter effective?” primarily by referring to leading expert Mal Warwick.

Yesterday I was pleased to discover an article that he penned titled What Makes a Fundraising Letter Effective. Here’s a short excerpt:

An effective fundraising letter possesses three attributes:

1. An effective fundraising letter is an appeal from one person to another.

2. An effective fundraising letter describes an opportunity for the recipient to meet personal needs by supporting a worthy charitable aim.

3. An effective fundraising letter invites the recipient to take specific and immediate action.

This article goes on to explain the importance of the marketing concept, that is knowing precisely the who, what, why, when, and how of the letter. Building this concept in advance before you even start writing is important in planning an effective letter campaign.

The article concludes with an expansion on the six qualities that are shared by the most productive fundraising appeals. Take some time out to read this article which could quite possibly save you much more time, effort and money in the long run: What Makes a Fundraising Letter Effective

Related Articles & Resources:
How to Write Successful Fundraising Letters by Mal Warwick (Book)
Step By Step Guide to Writing A Fundraising Letter
Attention Getting Openings for For Fundraising Letters

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Understanding basic fundraising principles helps non profit leaders better prepare themselves for raising funds. Amy Kincaid has an excellent article that describes seven realities of fundraising and how to react to them.

People give when asked (and rarely when they are not). Even when people are asked, they don’t always give. So what? (a) Ask for more gifts than the number you need. (b) Embrace the word “No.”

I know how frustrating it is to be turned down for a donation. But I also know what a joyous feeling it is to find someone who’s been effected by a cause and really wants to help support it. You really feel like you’ve given them a gift even as you say thanks for theirs.

Yes, it’s unrealistic to think that everyone or even a majority of those you approach to support a cause will do so. But by continuing to put the word out about the mission of your group, you’ll eventually find those people whose passion for the cause matches your own.

Read all of the Seven Fundraising Principles.

Related Articles:
The 5 Keys to Successful Fundraising
Fundraising Basics
9 Ideas to Impact Your Organization

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I discovered the following website today, or rediscovered I should say as I’ve been familiar with Idealist.org for awhile. But their tools page stood out as a great destination to find helpful information so I thought I’d pass it along. There you can find many useful links to other websites that provide information about starting a nonprofit organization, volunteers, fundraising and more.

Visit Idealist.org Tools

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Fundraising letters communicate a specific message to potential donors and call them to action. Creating an attention getting opening paragraph is important in making a good first impression and in getting the rest of the letter read.

Here are 5 Attention Getting Strategies for Fundraising Letters:

1. Headlines

Even though a fundraising letter should be in the format of a letter with a salutation, body and closing, a headline at the top of the page can be an attention grabber. Headlines are usually just 1-2 lines and are printed in larger type that the rest of the letter. For added interest, use a different font.

2. Attention Getting Words

Using very specific words as sentence openers grab the readers attention. Notice that many of these sample phrases ask the reader to do something. Here are a few examples:

Just imagine if…
Right now…
Think about…
Why is it that…
Without a doubt…
For instance,
Please don’t overlook…

The Sample Fundraising Letters book contains a collection of 138 sample words and phrases like these.

3. Questions

Open ended questions are great ways to begin a letter. Questions are designed to get the reader to think. When asked a question, people automatically try to answer it. Avoid using yes/no questions, because this is too easy an answer and the conversation in the reader’s mind stops.

Here’s an example: “How many people in our city go hungry at Christmastime each year? Statistics say that on average 357 will miss at least one meal between Christmas and New Year’s Day because their cupboards are bare. Many of these are senior citizens. This year let’s keep this statistic from becoming a reality.”

4. Bold Statements & Exclamations

Another way to open the letter is by using a bold statement, often related to shocking situations or statistics. For example, “Every day 6,300 people in Africa die from HIV/AIDS.”

Sentences using exclamation points work well for a letter with a light hearted tone. For example, “It’s that time of year again – the Clark County Yam Festival is almost here!”

A few well placed exclamation points at the beginning and/or other sections of the letter add energy. Just be sure to use exclamation points sparingly in the overall letter. Having too many of them gives the impression of hype or insincerity.

5. Narratives & True Stories

One of the most successful ways to get your message across is to describe a story of a specific person or situation that your organization has helped. If your group has made some major achievements and successes these can also be of use. Always remember to include stories that will engage the reader, not just show off accomplishments.

In the Fundraising Letter Q&A Audio I discuss stories quite a bit, including using an example of a tearjerking sample letter. Take a listen to find out.

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One of the questions that came up several times on the recent survey was how to know who to send a fundraising letter to. Marc Pitman describes the three ways to determine if someone would potentially donate to your cause.

Capacity to give
Philanthropic nature (generosity)
Interest in your cause or organization

Once you’ve determined that someone enjoys supporting non profit causes, has the ability to give and is interested in your cause you will know that they are a good candidate to become a supporter. By sending repeated mailings as well as telephone calls and other personal contacts you will increase the liklihood not only of an initial donation, but of repeated donations and participation in your organization.

Find out more:
FUNDRAISING BASICS: Get R.E.A.L.! Peer Reviews & The CPI Index
Audio Interview with Marc Pitman
Fundraising Letters Q&A Audio Seminar

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Writing a direct mail fundraising letter can be a complex task and can lead to many questions. Especially if your organization hasn’t done a direct mail campaign before, you’ll want to be armed with as much information as possible. Or perhaps you’ve sent fundraising letters in the past and are looking for better results.

Now in this free audio seminar you’ll get answers to your most frequently asked questions about fundraising letters. Plus learn the #1 most effective writing technique for getting results!

• How can the letter get the reader’s attention in the first sentence or paragraph?
• How long should the letter be?
• How do I know who to send the letter to?
• How can a group get support from big corporate sponsors and what type of benefits should they be offered?
• How can a I write a compelling letter that gets results?

Listen to this Audio Interview

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A super big thank you to everyone who participated in the recent survey! There were 345 entries including a lot of really great questions. It might sound a little daunting to go through that many questions (and yes it was at first!) but actually there’s a lot of similar issues that come up often.

Once I narrow down the top most frequently asked questions, I’ll start recording a free audio seminar to answer them. Until then I thought you might find some of these results from the survey interesting.

The first two questions of the survey asked what type of fundraising letters you’re most interested in. Writing letters for direct financial donations is the clear winner, with other types of letters like corporate sponsors close behind.

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Looking for some easy school fundraising ideas? Students and teachers in the Armstrong School District in Pennsylvania came up with several easy school fundraisers to help raise funds for hurricane relief.

The fundraisers were based upon students giving a small donation in exchange for getting to wear something special such as a funny hat or flip-flop shoes. They proved not only to be easy school fundraisers but fun ones as well.

Schools such as Ford City High School and Kittanning Area Middle School sponsored a “Hat Day,” where students donating $1 could wear a hat all day in school.

Elderton High School also ran a hat day and a “Flip-Flop Day” and sold 25-cent tickets for a seat of honor in class. Winners of the drawing got to sit in an easy chair and were brought snacks by teachers.

Source: Pittsburgh Live

These are easy school fundraisers because it didn’t take much time or effort to plan them. All that was needed was to set a date for the special days at school and decide how much students would be asked to donate.

Another reason that made the events easy school fundraisers is that students were not required to sell anything or do any volunteering after school. Since students were only asked to donate a few dollars it made the fun costume days available for all students to participate in and no one would feel left out. Students could realize that when everyone works together, each small contribution adds up to make a difference in a worthy cause.

These easy school fundraisers could be used to raise donations for school related causes including sports teams, prom committees and academic programs.

Related Resources

Top School Fundraisers Blog school fundraising tips, timely news and school fundraising ideas.

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Yesterday I sent out the following email to those who had requested the Step By Step Guide to Writing Fundraising Letters asking for your most pressing question related to fundraising letters.

I was shocked when in just the first 90 minutes after the email went out, there were already 108 questions submitted! There’s still time to enter your question, just start this quick survey. The most frequently asked questions will be answered in a free audio seminar to be presented next week. (Stay tuned for more details!)

Some of the most frequently read articles and reports on my site are related to fundraising letters. Letters are frequently used by non profit organizations for a variety of purposes, but as you may know writing letters can also be a time consuming and confusing process.

If you’re going to take the time and expense of sending letters, you want to get RESULTS, right? And to get the results you’re after, a letter should be written in certain ways. Not just any letter will work to bring in donations for a non profit organization. Wow…what pressure! It’s enough to give me writer’s block!

I’d like to help you make sense of all this fundraising letter info and conquer writer’s block for good! What’s your most pressing question about writing letters for your non profit group? What tips and resources would help you the most?

The most frequently asked questions will be answered in a FREE audio seminar that will be released next week!

Let me know by completing a short survey (only 6 questions)

The deadline for entering your question so that it can potentially be addressed on the seminar is 11:59 PM (Central US Time) this Saturday. Thank you for your input. I’m looking forward to answering your fundraising letter questions!

Start the survey now

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