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Fundraising Tuesday: The Last Words Shall Be First

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P.S. postscriptMore than 100 appeal letters arrived at the Fischman household last November and December. About two-thirds of them came feet first.

By that I mean that, like your donors, I read the postscript right away.

The p.s. is one of the first things donors read after we open the envelope–probably right after checking to see whether you call your donors by our names. You will make more money if you get the postscript right.

So, how do you write a postscript your donors will love?

Include a Postscript

sad news, happy newsThe sad news is that 37 appeal letters didn’t include any postscript at all.

True, some of them were in a format that didn’t look like a letter. It’s hard to put a p.s. on a report or a sheet of coupons. (That may be a reason not to use those formats very often!)

But many of those 37 were classic appeal letters that came to the signature line and just ended. That’s sad–for the senders.

For your nonprofit, the happy news: it may have given your letter the chance to be noticed. If you used a postscript, good for you!

Make It Urgent

More than 30 letters used their p.s. to stress the reason for giving now.

I was glad to see that none of them said “so we can meet our goal”–that’s your reason to write, not their reason to give. None of them mentioned tax-deductibility, and that’s good: it’s not the reason most people give either.

Most of the time, nonprofits used the postscript to do one of two things:

  • Simply urge the donor not to wait (stressing how easy it is to give online), or,
  • Reiterate the reason to give. “Immigrant families are waiting to find out whether they will be deported. Help them get the legal help they need, today!”

The very best examples made the postscript into a story in brief. They referred back to the clients whose stories they told in the body of the letter and reminded donors, “You can be their hero.”

Experiment with a Call To Action

act nowMostly I advise nonprofits to keep the postscript simple. Ask people to do just one thing: give money. But 18 of the appeal letters I saw this year asked for an additional action.

Some of them requested the donor take steps to make their donation worth more, like “Check if your employer will match your donation.” Others suggested the donor take another action besides giving: fill in a survey, pick a design for a membership card, alert the organization when ICE was in the area.

I’m curious: did your nonprofit try an additional Call To Action in the postscript to your appeal letter? What was the response like? Did people who took that extra step give extra money?

 

Fundraising Tuesday: Say Hello to More Donations

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you had me at helloAt the end of the movie Jerry Maguire, Jerry tries to tell Dorothy that he loves her. He’s ready for a long-winded speech, but Dorothy shuts him up. “You had me at hello,” she confesses.

It’s a pretty sure bet Dorothy wouldn’t have said that if Jerry called her “Dear friend”!

There’s a lesson here for your nonprofit.

The Salutation in Your Appeal Letter

This past November and December, the Fischman household received 102 appeal letters from 72 different organizations. I’m happy to say that almost half of them personalized their letters. They said “Dear Dennis,” or “Dear Dennis and Rona.”

Another 11 were slightly more formal, with a salutation of “Dear Mr. Fischman. A handful went for accuracy and gender neutrality, greeting me as “Dear Dennis Fischman” and us as “Dear  Dennis and Rona Fischman.”

I prefer the informal version, and I’ll bet most people under the age of 70 do. But the important thing is that, formal, or informal, these organizations called donors by their names.

When you don’t use a personal name in your appeal letter, it starts your donor thinking. “I gave them money, and they don’t even know who I am? How important can my donation be?” And that’s a deadly train of thought for your nonprofit–especially when you are trying to renew donors.

Which is Worse, “Dear Friend” or Nothing?

Of the appeals that came to our mailbox, eleven of them didn’t use any salutation at all. That sounds surprising until you consider that some of them were not letters. They were impact statements or faux telegrams, with a reply vehicle enclosed.

I can understand that a greeting wouldn’t fit with those formats. I still don’t like it. Even if that particular mailing raised money, what does it do to create the loyal donors your nonprofit can rely on from year to year? Nothing–and that’s a missed opportunity.

But I still liked it better than the letters that began “Dear friend” (or “supporter,” or “member”). A letter is supposed to be personal, and these letters were not.

The One Thing Your Small Nonprofit Can Do that Will Raise More Money

Maybe the Southern Law Policy Center can get away with “Dear Friend.” They have a huge mailing list and an established brand.

Maybe the Arthritis Foundation can do it. They have a built-in constituency of people with arthritis pain.

But if your small nonprofit goes with “Dear Friend,” you are giving away your biggest advantage in fundraising: your ability to add a personal touch. Make the size of your list work for you.

Call your donors by name and you can have them at hello.

Fundraising Tuesday: Will the Donor Open Your Envelope?

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Did your nonprofit raise the money you hoped to raise at the end of the year? If so, congratulations. But if not, maybe it’s because the donor never read your letter.

They might never have gotten past your envelope.

What Other Nonprofits Do with Envelopes

appeal lettersIn November and December, I received over 100 appeal letters from 72 different organizations. That’s a lot of mail! And nobody has the time to read all the appeals they receive.

Donors figure out whether or not to toss your appeal in the recycling bin in seconds. They do it by looking at the envelope.

Most of the appeal letters I received did something on the front of the envelope to persuade me to look inside.

  • 77 of 102 showed me the name of the organization that was mailing to me, with its return address. That established some credibility.  (At the minimum, it made me less likely to worry that I’d open the envelope and find anthrax inside.)
  • 61 of 102 also showed me the organization’s logo. That makes sense, too. A logo is designed to be instantly recognizable, and if I stop and say, “Oh, I know that,” I may get curious about what’s inside.
  • 58 of 102 printed a teaser on the front of the envelope. It could have been a message from the organization, or a quote from a person whose life had improved because of the nonprofit.

For instance:

When Brittany went looking for like-minded veterans, she found About Face.

We need you. This is a time for action–not for standing on the sidelines. (from J Street)

Even the envelopes that say only “Immediate Attention Requested” make me think a moment longer…and that means I’m more likely to rip them open and see what’s inside. As you want me to do!

6 Ways Your Envelope Could Stand Out

You could mimic the other nonprofits to give yourself an equal shot at  your donor’s attention. But here are six ideas to make your envelope pop out from that tall stack of envelopes I showed you.

  1. GBFB envelope with graphicPrint a graphic on the envelope. If you can go full-color like the Greater Boston Food Bank did, so much the better. But even a line drawing will catch my eye.
  2. Put a stamp on it. Yes, an honest-to-goodness, first-class stamp, like you’ d see on a holiday card from your favorite aunt.
  3. Use an unusual size envelope. Did somebody say “card”?
  4. Use an unusual color envelope. In that pile of appeal letters I showed you up above, see the green one sticking out? Don’t you want to know what this?
  5. Have a real person’s name on the return address. It could be your Executive Director, or it could be Toni Morrison. Either way, it makes your donor hesitate to throw the envelope away.
  6. Handwrite the donor’s name and address. Here’s where being a small nonprofit could help. You’re not going to hand-address 10,000 envelopes, but if you have 150 donors–or you can pick out 150 from your list that you especially want to reach–handwriting in real ink will make it personal, not personalized.

Beyond the Envelope

Every Tuesday in January and February, we’re  going to look back at those 102 appeal letters I received–and look forward to what you can do better this year. Stay tuned to Fundraising Tuesdays on Communicate!

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