Don’t Make These 5 Mistakes In Your Fundraising Appeal Letter
Fundraising appeal letter mistakes – 5 key items to avoid
Your year-end appeal letter just might be missing the boat.
Here are some common fundraising appeal letter mistakes I see so very often:
1. Your call to action is weak.
Lots of letters I see beat around the bush. They don’t tell the donor explicitly what step to take.
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You’ve simply got to tell people what to do! And you have to lay it out in very specific words.
Give them the next step. Outright.
Say: “Please fill out the reply card and send it today.”
Say, “The xxx needs you today. Please make a gift right now.”
Use the word “today.”
Use the words “right now.”
That gives the letter a sense of urgency and a deadline.
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The donor needs both – so she’ll take action and not set your letter aside to consider later.
MUST DO: Make your call to action completely explicit.
2. You are not asking enough times in the letter.
You should be asking at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of the letter.
There should be asks all over the place.
One of the most common appeal letter mistakes I see is that the ask is weak, and is not obvious.
That’s what the letter is for, isn’t it?
MUST DO: Use all these different ways of asking in your letter:
- “Please join us. . . “
- “Please help today . . ..”
- “Can’t do it without you.”
- “Take part.”
- “Take these two steps. . . “
- “Make your gift right now.”
3. Your letter is hard to read.
The typical donor is a female, over 60 years old. That means she probably needs reading glasses.
You don’t really want to make her reach for those glasses in order to read your letter, do you?
So don’t make your appeal letter hard for your lovely donor to read!
A big fundraising appeal letter mistake I see is font that is too small.
The new standard for appeal letters is 14 point type.
And it needs to be black font, not grey. And no white copy on a colored background, which is also quite difficult to read.
MUST DO: Always use 14 point type.
4. The word “you” is not showing up enough.
The word “you” is an emotional trigger. It IMMEDIATELY pulls people in.
If you don’t have “you” and “your” showing up tons and tons in your letter, throw it out and start over!
The word “you” is what makes the appeal letter donor-centered.
This is one of the fundraising appeal letter mistakes that I see so often.
Too much bragging about the organization and not enough talking about the donor. Too much “we” and “us” and not enough “you.”
MUST DO: Add the word “you” wherever you possibly can.
5. You are not mailing often enough to your donors asking them to renew.
One of the main reasons your donors don’t renew is NOT that they don’t like you anymore.
It’s that you don’t remind them enough that you are around.
It’s ok to followup and followup again, when a donor doesn’t renew their gift.
After all, you really don’t want to lose one of your True Believer Supporters, do you?
You need to be in front of your donors – don’t shy away from being in front of them asking them to join in and renew.
MUST DO: Stay after your wonderful donors with plenty of reminders to renew their gift!
One more thing!
You need to create the best possible appeal letter, don’t you? And how on earth do you create a compelling, powerful appeal letter that makes your donor want to give.
Did you know there are short cuts you can take that will jack up your dollar results? Just like these in this article.
Our Killer Appeal Letter Intensive this month brought four top experts together to share exactly what you need to know to give your appeals power and punch right now.
Some of our attendees called the sessions “mind-blowing and transformational – throwing everything you know on its head.” You can get the full recordings and transcripts here.
Fundraising Appeal Letter Mistakes
COMMENTS PLEASE:
What do you think are more BIG MISTAKES people make in their year-end appeal letter?
I left out some good ones – leave a comment and tell me what they are!
title of article says 5 mistakes… but the subheader says 3 mistakes. does that count as another mistake we shouldnt make?
Ha! thanks for spotting! I fixed! Yup, triple proof read everything is a “must do!” :)
Most sentences are too long. Short to the point. Letter should have the 14 pt font, but should also have lots of air – it’s easier to take in and more inviting.
Great tips Gail!
I’d add: (1) Stop using jargon; (2) avoid big words; write like a 7th-grader; (3) don’t be stilted and stuffy; write like you talk and forget all those grammar rules that were drilled into you, and… the “biggie”… (4) don’t forget to add a strong, inspiring P.S.; it’s often one of the first things people read.
My executive director signs and adds a note to every appeal. It’s great except he will often write, “Can you help?” I can’t stand it! Am I overreacting?
Well I think “can you help?” is ok. Many times the note says “please help!” so I don’t have a problem with “can you help?”
Don’t forget to include a response card!
I have my 11 year old read all my appeal letters. If she can tell me what the letter wants her to do, I figure our donors can too. She has asked questions after reading that have resulted in me re-writing the letter.
I love this tip! I’m going to advise folks to do this.
What is the appropriate response when someone asks to meet with you to ask you to partner with them financially when you know you are already over committed financially and cannot do it?
I think a lot of these tips are great but I have to disagree with the last one. When I donate to an organization and then begin receiving appeal letters and phone calls every month or two I usually end up not renewing my donation and asking them to take me off their list. One reason is that I feel bombarded and do not have the time to speak with the solicitors or to review every letter – I usually send them straight into the recycling bin without even opening them, especially those that use the same language and brochures for each letter. The other is that, knowing how much time and effort goes into preparing appeals, I feel like my donation is not being used to support the programs themselves but rather to support the sending of more appeals. As someone who has worked at small non-profits for many years, I know how important appeals and donations from individuals are to sustaining a non-profit but I wish that I could just receive asks when my recurring donations are close to ending or once a year.
Hi! you are polite and tell them you are overcommitted. Then you wish them well. Better not to waste their time or yours!
Hi – thanks for your comment. I find that many small nonprofits are not following up often enough with their donors. They may send only one reminder.
I am certainly not in favor of sending appeals every month or two! Or phone calling donors every month or two! That sounds like one of the huge nonprofits with a huge fundraising effort. If our donors are feeling bombarded then we are “bombing out!”
But perhaps there’s a big difference between the strategies employed by huge nonprofits vs the smaller ones.
Gail
Who should sign an appeal letter that is addressed to volunteers? ED, DD, Program Staff?
Hi! I like for the most important person in the organization to sign letters. I don’t think program staff or the director of devt should sign letters.
I actually wound up on a google page asking who responds to appeals for cash? To me, these tips are so obvious and blatantly manipulative. Write like a 7th Grader? Don’t insult my intelligence! Make the email all about “you! you! you!” I know the appeal is not about me, so why pretend. You don’t care about me, but my money. I am just a number to you. Tell me, what’s in it for me… Will my money be applied to a cause I deeply care about? Explain what you intend to do with it, along with prior success rates. I don’t need to receive a glib sales pitches, nor do donors appreciate being hit up yet again….as it makes donors feel like marks. (“I just gave a few months ago…now you are asking for MORE money?”) Don’t create a false sense of urgency…oh please give TODAY. I don’t know who you are audience is, but the techniques outlined above would reduce my chances of responding — and I am saying this as someone who works in sales and is “a closer” and fund raiser. My letters, pitches get results. People don’t like to be manipulated or talked down to or pressured. Follow through is one thing, but desperation another. I don’t think the advice given here is horrible in so much as it’s not effective.
Hi Joy, sorry you don’t like these tips. Since you are in sales, you do know that there is a complete sales methodology based on data. Here in fundraising we also have a data-based methodology. Since I am trying to change the world in the fastest way possible, I would tend to employ the proven strategies that will raise the most money possible. This is what you see in this post. You may not like it but it works for very deserving nonprofits.
You know what’s amusing? You lost my attention within 2 sentences, as you are so long winded and confrontational. However, when I came back to skim, I found good ideas. How about next time you throw the good ideas up first, and then the complaints afterwards? Unless, of course, your entire post was meant to concentrate on your being insulted.
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