How to Write a Fundraising Letter to Family and Friends
Fundraising Messages: The Ultimate Guide (with Free Examples)
Fundraising letters communicate your organization'south needs, give your recipients data virtually how they tin assist, and ask them to get involved. This blazon of fundraising alphabetic character is an optimal risk to share your story, show donors the impact they can brand with a souvenir, and gain support for your mission.
Explore how you can best use fundraising letters by using the navigation beneath:
- How to Write a Fundraising Letter
- Fundraising Letter Examples
- How to Write a Fundraising Email
- How to Write a Donation Acknowledgement Letter
- Donation Letters in the historic period of COVID-xix
Fundraising Letter of the alphabet Templates
Go on reading to larn the basics behind writing a fundraising alphabetic character and how you can get started. Or, if you lot'd rather go straight to our templates, utilize the list below to quickly spring to the fundraising letter yous demand:
How to Write a Fundraising Letter of the alphabet
Equally you explore how to write a keen fundraising letter, it'southward important to follow a few central steps in order to write the most compelling and effective alphabetic character possible. These steps include:
- Accost your recipient personally.
By addressing your recipient past name, they won't feel similar they are merely one of many reading this letter of the alphabet. Be sure to personalize your outreach with names so each reader knows you lot value their private back up.
- Tell a story.
Show your reader the issue or problem your organization is working to address with a story. Give details about the people you're trying to help so it's clear how they tin can benefit from a donation.
- Define the problem.
Clearly outline the larger issues and issues your clients are facing. Be every bit straightforward as possible when doing this.
- Explain your mission and outline your goal.
Explain your need and how information technology fits into your overall mission. Your readers should understand how their donations will be used and who will benefit from them. Make sure to clearly explain the bear on of the donor's gift and how information technology will make a divergence.
- Explain how your donor tin can make an impact.
Before donors give, they want to know exactly how their donation will make a difference in the world. You lot've already divers a trouble for them; explicate how their donation will solve the problem with specific actions. For example, if you're raising coin for an animal shelter, you lot tin can specify that a donation of $50 will provide nutrient for 10 corporeality of pets!
- Call the reader to activeness.
Explain the urgency of the situation so yous tin convince your readers to act quickly. Mention what your other donors' gifts have already done to accost the problem and note the progress your current fundraiser is making.
In addition to post-obit these steps, be certain to focus on the "you lot" and "we" language in your letter, but by and large focus on the "yous." Your outreach should be about your reader and the impact they can brand, and information technology should directly appeal to them. Using "you" and "we" linguistic communication is important and helps provide a touch of human interest to your fundraising letter.
How long should a fundraising alphabetic character be?
A fundraising letter should be concise. One page is a great length, just some stories take a little longer to tell. A skilful rule of thumb is to use exactly as many words to define the trouble and inquire donors to provide a solution—nothing more! You may also include actress materials (such every bit information about matching gifts, additional details well-nigh your organization, etc.) or additional lift pieces to your entreatment. If yous decide to make your fundraising letter longer than one page, be sure donors know what actions you want them to take past the end of the first page.
How should you send a fundraising letter?
Fundraising messages can be sent through a diversity of channels, though the more effective ones tend to be via email and directly postal service. In order to personalize your outreach, make certain your fundraising letters are addressed to a specific private, which is accomplished hands through email and straight mail. Don't just write "Dear Donor" instead!
Why are fundraising letters important?
Fundraising messages are important because they requite you an opportunity to demonstrate your financial needs, get donors involved with your cause, tell your emotional story, show donors why their gifts are important, and create a long-term relationship with your supporter.
Fundraising Letter Examples
In gild to get you started with your drafting, nosotros've written some fundraising letter of the alphabet examples for different scenarios surrounding different types of campaigns.
Standard Fundraising Letter
If you're request for donations , you need to have a standard format that tin can be used equally a baseline for all of your other fundraising letters. This letter should exist:
- Donor-centric
- Personalized
- Concise
This template is generic, only your fundraising messages should be segmented depending on your human relationship with the recipient. First-time donors should receive different letters than major gift donors, ane-time donors should become different letters than recurring donors, and so forth.
This letter of the alphabet is quite brusk and gets right to the betoken of asking for a donation. Your letter volition obviously be more specific and detailed depending on your mission and the projects your campaign volition fund. You lot should also add a P.Southward. message. Hither's why: most readers absorb a alphabetic character in a specific guild. The order is equally follows: donors read the salutation start, so the P.S. message, and then the body of the letter. Since the P.S. is the 2d thing they read, it'south important that you use information technology to make an affect. Information technology's the perfect place to reiterate your call to action (where you ask people to give, volunteer, or whatever else you lot desire them to do).
Exist sure to besides include a pre-addressed and stamped envelope to make it easy for your readers to give!
Private Sponsorship Alphabetic character
Sponsorship letters are similar to standard fundraising letters. The only departure is that sponsorships are commonly tied to events like marathons, walk-a-thons, and fun runs.
The request for sponsorship might also have a advantage or incentive attached, such as:
-
- The sponsor's name included in promotional items and advert materials.
- Certain merchandise related to the event.
- Seats or tickets to the event.
If you really want to make an impression on potential sponsors, enquire them what incentives they'd like earlier sending the appeal. They may have ideas yous've never considered!
Every bit with the standard fundraising template, this sponsorship asking template tin be tailored to fit your system'due south needs. Y'all should always include more than data about the event itself and what sponsors will receive in exchange for their donations. Remember to keep this donor-axial, specially if the recipient has sponsored your event or supported you lot in other ways in the past. If they accept supported you in the by, make sure to reference that early on gift and thank them for their past involvement.
Volunteer Request Alphabetic character
A volunteer request letter should focus on the work that a volunteer might do should they cull to work with your system. It should besides allow them know how their piece of work will positively touch the people or customs you support.
Volunteers are often more than familiar with your organization if they've been involved in the past. If you're writing a letter of the alphabet to someone that you know has a history of volunteering with your organization or other nonprofits, yous should reference that involvement and thank them for their service.
Corporate Sponsorship Letter of the alphabet
Notation that this alphabetic character asks for an in-person meeting with the leader of the organization. The company to which yous're writing may be hesitant to give money to a nonprofit they've never worked with earlier. In-person meetings are a skillful move even with organizations that have supported you in the by; most major donors prefer to handle their philanthropic conversations in person. That includes corporations and other businesses!
An in-person meeting tin can greatly help your fundraising efforts. It allows the business leader to ask questions, express concerns, and get more familiar with your arrangement—and with you! Donors adopt to give to people rather than organizations, even if they're part of a big company. Your contiguous coming together will make them much more likely to give
Again, this letter can be modified to adjust your organization'due south mission and needs.
Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Alphabetic character
Peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns are one of the most effective ways for your nonprofit to raise money and spread the word about your mission online. Your supporters will launch personalized fundraising pages on behalf of your cause, then reach out to their personal networks to solicit gifts from friends, family, and coworkers.
To give your peer-to-peer fundraising participants an thought of how to solicit these gifts, offer them a template like this one. By filling in the blanks, they can easily craft constructive and personalized solicitations.
When your participants sign upward and start designing their fundraising folio, consider providing fundraising templates like this ane to assistance them get started. If you're using Qgiv, these are easy to create! You can include them in your participants' fundraising dashboards, which will give them instant access to the electronic mail department of their sharing tools.
Matching Gift Fundraising Letter of the alphabet
Information technology'south rare for all of your supporters to know what matching gifts programs are, much less if their employers offering matching gifts. This is why your nonprofit should plan to send matching gift fundraising letters with supplemental information to recent donors. These letters tin can outline how to bank check eligibility and transport in a matching gift request to complete the process.
As you fix to transport your messages, use a matching gift database to decide which of your donors qualify for a matching gift. Then, create a donor segment list in your CRM of these special supporters.
Additionally, be certain to highlight the fact that submitting this asking will not crave whatever further giving on their part. Submitting this request is the best way for them to maximize the impact of their original gift and is essentially gratuitous coin for your crusade.
School Fundraising Letter
Schools are among the most common nonprofit organizations out at that place, and they generally have an incredibly wide range of constituents. This is why it'southward so important that schools have their fundraising needs seriously and plan ahead for how they'll request donations from community members.
To brand your school'due south fundraising efforts more constructive, create templates for different kinds of donation letters based on the type of supporter y'all're addressing. Perhaps you're soliciting a gift from a parent of a current educatee; accost them accordingly! Alternatively, y'all might want to draft a template of a solicitation addressed to an alumnus.
When creating your school fundraising letter template, your nonprofit should emphasize the impact your school has on its current students and the next generation of your community.
Church Fundraising Letter of the alphabet
In your church fundraising letters, be sure to put your congregation'south mission kickoff and foremost. Yous'll want to immediately address your congregant'southward sense of commitment to your church building and make the about out of the existing relationship with this individual.
Your reader may already make collection plate gifts each Lord's day, so you'll need to make the case for them to make a more targeted gift outside of these offerings. Be certain to tell them exactly how much you need to heighten and how that funding volition exist put to piece of work.
Ever be wary of request your community for gifts as well often. One strategy to minimize the risk of over-asking for contributions is to switch off between fundraising groups. For example, in February you might send letters to older congregants asking for Valentine's Day-related contributions, while in June you could contact parents of children in your church and ask for a souvenir to celebrate their kids' summer vacation.
Animal Rescue Fundraising Alphabetic character
Animal rescue organizations serve an important part in your customs, and y'all tin share the importance of your piece of work when writing a fundraising letter. Additionally, you can tap into your readers' emotional connection to animals to make the example for why they should requite back.
In your letter, bear witness supporters how their contributions will benefit specific animals. Personify the pets that you rescue and illustrate for your readers the massive affect they can make in an animal'southward life if they decide to donate. In your letter, consider sharing an image of real-life animals saved by your rescue. Include a caption with the pet's name and age equally an added style to pull at your supporters' heartstrings. Subsequently they donate, send a thank-you letter with a follow upwardly on these pets to emphasize the impact of their donation.
Your animal rescue should likewise send tailored letters to different groups in your community. These could include individuals who adopted pets from your rescue, volunteers, or helpful members of the customs who have dropped off lost or stray animals at your shelter.
Sale Item Asking Letter
Auctions are great opportunities to raise pregnant funds for your system, but procuring auction items can be tricky. Your goal should be to procure items that are highly-seasoned and volition encourage your attendees to bid. Exist sure to share the types of auction items or experiences yous're looking for then donors understand what y'all need.
Yous tin send these fundraising letters to local businesses as well as other supporters of your system and explain what the proceeds volition go toward. Offering a compelling reason as to why they should contribute an detail and make it clear who it volition benefit.
How to Write a Fundraising Electronic mail
As mentioned before, email is an excellent channel through which you lot tin can ship donation requests. The all-time office? All of the fundraising letter examples we've provided to a higher place tin be hands shared via email!
However, when information technology comes to writing a fundraising email, information technology's important to choose fundraising software that integrates with marketing tools. This volition make it easy to segment your recipients and personalize your outreach without too much endeavour on your end.
Consider the following when writing a fundraising e-mail:
- Organize your database.
By segmenting your donors and tailoring your email marketing toward different groups, yous'll exist more likely to retain more donors and increase donations. Providing relevant content to the advisable segments can make a huge difference!
- Automate your outreach.
Using email marketing tools, you can automate your emails to be sent out on a set up schedule so that you tin can regularly connect with supporters.
- Apply mail merge tools.
Employ mail merge tools to transport personalized emails to your constituents, automatically inserting their preferred names into the respective fields.
- Guide recipients to your online forms.
Since emails are digital, y'all can customize your messages to drive traffic to your online giving forms. Phone call readers to activity and make it piece of cake for them to navigate to the grade and give.
Making sure your fundraising software works with electronic mail marketing tools is essential considering information technology makes tracking donations and communicating with donors fifty-fifty easier. Fundraising emails are simple to organize and send, so be certain to leverage these tools to create the nigh effective outreach possible!
How to Write a Donation Acknowledgement Letter
If your initial fundraising alphabetic character is successful and a supporter gives to your crusade or participates in an event, it'due south imperative that you lot bear witness your appreciation with a donation acknowledgment letter. Without your donors, your organization would non exist able to develop important programs and fund life changing projects that impact your crusade.
Sending out donation acknowledgment letters does more than than just give thanks your supporters! It likewise helps promote a healthy and positive relationship between your organisation and donors, setting up a solid foundation for future appointment. Remember to ship your letter soon afterward the donation is made so the appointment is fresh in the donor's mind.
A simple thanks letter of the alphabet also can encourage donors to give once again, increasing your donor retention rates. When a donor gives a 2d time, it is often called the "golden donation." According to the Fundraising Effectiveness Report , only 19% of new donors volition give again. Merely once that donor completes the "golden donation," 63% will give again, increasing their chance of condign a lifelong giver.
When writing your donation acquittance letter, keep in mind the same guidelines from your fundraising letter. Recall to be donor-centric, personalized, and concise! Use their first name and even include specific donation details.
You can easily convert this template to an electronic mail form every bit well. To maximize the impact of donor acknowledgment emails, your fundraising software should integrate with your marketing and communications tool. This way, you can automate the process. As soon every bit supporters make their gift, your marketing tool will send out a thank you email personalized to that donor.
Donation Messages in the historic period of COVID-19
The importance of the donation letter has not been diminished by COVID-19. In fact, some of your donors may appreciate a more than personalized bear on at present more than ever! However, there are a few central things you need to keep in mind while creating donation messages during COVID-nineteen:
- It's okay to mention COVID-19. Nosotros're all burnt out from the pandemic, and we all know it. But yous don't take to be agape to mention COVID-19, especially if your mission has been impacted by the pandemic. Endeavour infusing your bulletin with promise that your donors can aid you lot make a difference:
"Before COVID-19, food insecurity in the U.S. was at its lowest levels of the by xx years. Now, as the pandemic increases food insecurity, nosotros're working harder than ever to bring levels dorsum to their 20-year low—but nosotros can't do it without your back up!"
- Look mail delays. It's no hole-and-corner that the United States Mail has been busier than ever because of the pandemic. While the post has hired around 100,000 more than workers to continue upwardly with demand, they're still trying to recover from the socially distanced holiday blitz.
This doesn't mean that you demand to avoid sending donation messages as a rule. Only keep in listen that delays mean that time-sensitive letters may non make it in time… unless y'all send them even farther in advance.
At present is too a great time to make sure you have an "instant" thank-you lot set via customized electronic mail donation receipts. A personalized, thoughtful thank-you e-mail can have the same effect as a newspaper letter, but you lot don't have to worry near donors feeling underappreciated because the letter took also long to get in.
- Fifty-fifty with the delays with the postal service, you don't necessarily need to cut down on how many fundraising letters you send. But before y'all add to the number you lot're sending, now can exist the best time to perfect your donation messages through compelling nonprofit storytelling. You don't need to send more when your story makes an touch on the first fourth dimension!
Fifty-fifty though the COVID-19 pandemic has changed life every bit we know it, there's still enough of room for successful donation messages! In fact, a personalized letter with stiff storytelling that tells a donor just how much they've helped could be simply the matter to brighten someone'southward twenty-four hour period. And if you're looking to automate your donation messages, at that place's never been a better time to meliorate the email marketing strategy at your nonprofit!
Source: https://www.qgiv.com/blog/fundraising-letter-templates/
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