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 [...]

Fundraising letters sent through the mail are one of the most popular ways to request donations.   You are simply writing a letter to potential supporters asking them to join you in supporting a worthy charity.  The only costs are for paper and postage, so nearly all of the donation goes directly to the cause.

Sounds simple [...]

The first step in having a successful direct mail fundraising campaign is having an understanding of the fundamentals — what direct mail is, what it is not and what to expect with a direct mail campaign.  These are three typical questions that many nonprofits who have not done a fundraising letter campaign before may ask.  [...]

1. Failure to ask for a gift. Don’t assume that your donors will know what you want them to do. Ask for a gift.  And make sure to include a reply envelope to make it easy for your donors to send their gift to you.
2. Using a dirty list. Keeping your list clean is one [...]

If anyone has the right to brag, it’s the President Elect.  But in last night’s acceptance speech, Barack Obama focused his attention on us.
Discussing the speech on CNN David Gergen commented about how Obama focused not on himself, but on the voters. He told the story of a 106 year old woman, everything she has [...]

Marc Pitman, the Fundraising Coach, recently wrote, “Aren’t you tired of receiving fundraising appeals with a message of “If you don’t give now, we won’t survive”?”
I have to agree. Even if your organization is having a tough time, this kind of message, especially sent in a mass direct mail appeal, is not a wise choice.
Marc [...]

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A few weeks ago I asked Step by Step Fundraising newsletter readers to send in examples of their organization’s fundraising letters.  While I thought it would be interesting to see some of your letters, I had no idea what awaited me.
My email box was flooded with [...]