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Let the Client Write Your Fundraising Letter

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You have probably sent your donors dozens or hundreds of fundraising letters for your nonprofit. But have they ever seen a letter from a satisfied client?

Stephanie’s Story

InterfaithFamily clientMy friend Carol Reiman sent me a letter she received by email from the nonprofit organization InterfaithFamily.

“Dear Carol,” it began (a good start, calling the donor by name):

Confused. The best adjective I can use to describe how I felt about planning my interfaith wedding before learning about InterfaithFamily.

The writer, Stephanie Radowitz, says she grew up Catholic and knew nothing about planning a wedding with her Jewish spouse. She was afraid she’d create hard feelings on what should be one of the happiest days of a couple’s life. Then, a co-worker connected her with an organization for people like her and her husband.

Not only did Stephanie learn enough from InterfaithFamily to plan the wedding–she found the rabbi she would trust to conduct the ceremony!

I cannot thank IFF enough for providing me with abundant resources, new friends and experiences. It is why I continue to stay connected to IFF and why I am giving back to help other couples who are navigating their own interfaith path. I hope you will consider joining me by making a gift to InterfaithFamily today and turning the confusion for so many couples like us into possibilities.

What the Client Did Right

There are so many things to love about this appeal letter!

  • The subject line is “Happily ever after starts here.” Who wouldn’t open that email, to find out where you can find “happily ever after?” (If it were postal mail, she could have used that line on the envelope.)
  • Stephanie tells a story. It has a narrative structure: heroine, challenge, helpers, solution. She doesn’t just tell us that the nonprofit helped her. She shows us how.
  • It uses “engaging” photos. (Pardon the pun!)
  • It has a warm, personal voice.
  • It smoothly directs readers to where they can find out more about the organization.
  • It asks for money. (Yes, you have to ask! And look how effortlessly Stephanie slips from her story to “And that is why” she’s supporting IFF.
  • It uses a postscript to make giving urgent. P.S. An anonymous donor has agreed to match all new and increased donations. Make a gift today and double your impact!

Okay, Maybe the Client Had Help

Stephanie’s letter is better than the vast majority of appeals I see written by paid staff at nonprofit organizations. Maybe she’s just an exceptional writer and intuitive fundraiser. Chances are, however, she had help.

Who is the Stephanie in your nonprofit organization: the client with a great story to tell? Can you interview her and write it up in her voice? Or can you share a template with her to make it easier for her to write the letter? Either way, it will ring true and make your donors want to give.

As long as the love rings true.

TY Thursday: Don’t Take Your Donors for Granted

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shut up, give me moneySometimes I think nonprofits have an invisible sign above their desks, directed to donors:

“Shut up and give.”

How else do you explain the way we keep on writing donors the way that’s most convenient for us, and not for them?

Or the way we persist in asking them for a new donation before we’ve actually said “thank you” for the old one?

For more shake-your-head proof that we are taking donors for granted–treating them like cash machines and not like human beings–consider this pet peeve from my friend Carol.

A First-Time Gift is Not a Wedding Ring

Carol read last week’s blog and wrote me:

I had an experience of giving generously to an organization and then realizing that my impulse was one of very poor judgment in terms of my financial situation.  Subsequent mail from the organization has basically asked me where I am and to send money in the same amount as soon as possible as the funds are very much needed.  Very poor form! I have been tempted to send a note but have decided that silence is the better option.

From the organization’s point of view, it seems, they’ve been jilted. Carol made them a vow of lifelong devotion, and then she left them at the altar.

But Carol doesn’t see it that way. She made a gift. Did that commit her to making the same gift happily ever after? Certainly not–particularly if she couldn’t really afford it. And she is offended that the organization is holding her to a promise she never made.

I bet you have some Carols on your list of lapsed donors. They, too, have decided “silence is the better option.” You might feel they have abandoned you, but they believe you have a lot of nerve to think they owe you.

How Not to Take Donors for Granted

Fortunately, some of us do understand how to woo our donors. Carol adds:

A different organization with similar goals has been nothing but kind and appreciative. After getting a request following my increased donation amount to another arm of the organization, I noted that I already donate to that program and had just increased the amount.  I received a note to the effect that the mistake had been corrected, with thanks for my being of such support. 

This is also a group that initiated a meeting for me with a regional director after I was unable to attend a local event for which I had registered. We had a lovely dinner with pleasant conversation, including an update on several programs–no pressure of any kind, just a learning experience and a getting to know you evening.  One certainly catches more flies with honey and the personal touch.

Taking donors for granted is destroying their good will. Treating your donors right is the best thank-you. What are you doing to make your donors feel they’ve truly been thanked?

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