Tips on  Creating Successful Annual Appeal Letters

A few days ago we sent you a letter explaining how this new weekly "tips email" is going to work. As we said, each week we will pose a question to you on an array of different and important nonprofit topics, and each week we hope you will send us some of your own tips that relate to that week's topic. This week, we asked you to tell us what makes your annual appeal letters successful, and we received a good handful of responses. The following readers wrote in with their ideas. Following their thoughts, Rich himself offers his own tips on creating an appealing letter. We also included a few points to ponder on how to tap into new donor pools. Read on...

From Dawn Richard of Jewish Family Service of Colorado: " Last year, at the end of the year,  we began to send very directed, personalized letters. To donors who gave between Jan – June, we invite them to make one last gift for the year. To donors who appear to skip this calendar year, we invite them to continue their support. We always include the specific $$ they had given in the past. We also put a specific increased $$ amount that we are asking for. It was very successful."

From Alex Hamilton III of McCall Memorial Hospital: "We just finished a process that involves our foundation board writing personal notes on appeal letters.  Each board member reviews the mailing list prior to us printing the letters.  Then each member takes 100 or so names and writes a note to those people they know.  It takes a lot of time and effort but our donation return rate is over 10%!  Pretty good!"

From Atiba , a nonprofit consumer : " I don't read appeal letters that are long so keep it short – one page of narrative and if you have a second or third page make sure that it is a collection of quotes, photos and other graphics that dramatically tell your story."

And now some great tips, from Rich himself:

1. Keep it to two pages. One page is too short, but three pages or more will overwhelm the reader.
2. Ask board members to give you a list of ten people they know who might be interested in donating to your organization. Make sure the board member writes a personal note to these potential donors and attach it to the annual appeal letter. 
3. Make it emotional/compassionate. The reader should feel a sense of empathy when they read the appeal.
4. Write with a sense of urgency but without a sense of crisis . You may really really need the money, but don't let your reader know that. He/She should conclude from the letter tha you are simply hoping for a nice end-of-the-year gift from them to help with your wonderful programs and campaigns.
5. Use quotes and stories - these play to the heart and show that individual donations really do help!
6. Underline and use bullets for emphasis. Make it something that can be read quickly.
7. Write a recent quote on the first page - for major emphasis.
8. Ask for a specific $ range. They shouldn't have to think up an arbitrary sum on their own.
9. Enclose a picture, newspaper article and make sure you include a return envelope without a stamp. The appeal letter will reel them in, but a couple enclosures can further emotionally present your story. 
10. If the mailing is small, hand address the envelope; if large, print address on envelope - don't use a label!  

Appealing to New Donor Pools

Tapping into new pools of potential donors is no easy task. The process requires a very well thought out strategy. The Defenders of Wildlife appeal is an example of a successful end of the year appeal that brought in 2,500 NEW donors and raised $42,000. Defenders - which typically appeals to animal rights activists - sought to tap into the environmental activist donor pool (a logical secondary donor pool). The appeal featured a caricature of Interior Secretary Gail Norton disguised as Disney's Cruella De Vil. The caricature itself captured the reader's attention, but the mailing also used humor, wit and information on Ms. Norton's environmental record.

There are countless other ways to tap into new donor pools. Deciding on the strategy that is right for your organization takes some time, some brainstorming, and a good deal of creativity. Think of a group of people that could logically support your group, but perhaps don't know enough about it, then figure out an angle that would pull them in.

The Staff at Richard Male & Associates
www.richardmale.com