Live Workshopping of Annual Appeal Letters
CHECK OUT THE RECORDING OF THIS LIVE FUNDRAISING WORKSHOP!
The annual appeal letter is the heartbeat of nonprofit fundraising, a powerful tool that connects organizations with their supporters on a personal level. It's not just about asking for donations; it's an opportunity to craft a compelling narrative, weaving stories that tug at heartstrings and resonate with donors.
And, if its done poorly, you’re basically burning money. So, I decided to review ACTUAL FUNDRAISING APPEAL LETTERS - from real nonprofit organizations - so you can see concrete examples of how to do fundraising better (and what not to do)..
APPEAL Letter 1:
FUNDRAISABILITY Rating: 3/10
What fundraising tips you can learn from HOW THIS Fundraising LETTER WENT WRONG…
Don’t use big chunks of text. Avoid them because it’s less likely people are going to read them. So even if you're providing valuable insight, no one's going to bother reading the wonderful content you want to provide them.
Don’t waste valuable space. As you can see on the left side of this letter there is a whole list of officers and/or board members, if you're writing a political letter maybe, but if this is really truly a letter to your donor base, you're wasting valuable space listing people that the recipients might not know. I would scratch that whole left column because it's taking up space that could be used for more important things.
Ensure you are projecting credibility and strength. There's a Gmail email right at the top. Gmail's cool for personal chats, but for official business? let’s upgrade that email game. It’s all about boosting credibility.
Be engaging, not boring. You want to make sure that as soon as a potential donor opens the letter, they are grounded in a place, a story, or something moving. This is a very rational, incredibly boring letter. Nothing moves me. In fact, a letter like this might even bore potential donors.
appeal Letter 2
Fundraisability Rating: 5/10
What fundraising tips you can learn from HOW THIS Fundraising LETTER WENT WRONG…
Tell a story of transformation. Don’t summarize your organization programming activities. I really wish that in that top third above the fold - instead the founder’s picture - there was a picture of one of those seventh or eighth graders that the nonprofit is helping. And then, instead of boring us, maybe hear a story of transformation about the civics lesson an individual beneficiary learned and perhaps a way they implemented it. Remember, only through the specific can something become universalizable.
Watch the recording of the full LIVE FUNDRAISING WORKSHOP (free) to see additional Annual Appeal Letter Fundraising Tips you can implement immediately (including feedback from the letters below)!
