Fundraising appeals: think before you act

So you’re ready to write a fundraising appeal. Now what?

Before you even begin to write your appeal, there are some things you should think about.

What’s the ONE thing you’ll ask a reader to do?

Too often, we use a fundraising appeal as a catch-all for everything we want to tell people. This is an even more perilous problem if you don’t communicate often.

Suddenly, there are ALL THE THINGS you want to say! And so much you want people to do!

But no matter how we try, we’re not really built for multi-tasking – or at least multi-tasking of this kind. If you want people to act, keep it clear and simple. Ask for one thing: an urgent gift, a monthly commitment, attendance at an event, consideration of a bequest.

Keeping the focus on that one thing gives it the weight you want it to have.

Who is the ONE person who will be writing the fundraising appeal?

No communication from more than one person is really personal. (Unless, maybe, maybe, it’s your grandma and grandpa.) So pick someone. Preferably someone the donor knows – or thinks she knows. A sense of personal connection matters.

You also want someone with importance. Maybe it’s someone telling their own story – who could be more important to that story? Or maybe it’s someone in your organization who has a strong public identity. Match the writer to the readers as much as possible.

What is THE most important thing you want to say?

This goes with the ask you choose, of course. But once you know what you’ll be asking for, hone your message so that you focus on the why of your ask.

If you want someone to send an urgent gift today, don’t spend time telling them about all your organization’s good work. Focus on the problem you’re asking them to fix, NOW.

You don’t need to send your organization’s resume. You want to make the problem real and clear, tell them how they can solve it with a gift, then tell them how to make that gift. You can encourage more gifts simply by keeping it, well, simple.

Is it getting crowded in here?

Giving is a personal act. And you want to act one person (at a time) to act on your request.

Have you ever been in a group where someone asks for a volunteer? That old bit where everyone steps back, leaving one person who has to volunteer? The truth is, so long as someone else might be taking care of a problem, your donor has an out.

It’s not rational to give away your money. So you need to feel, well, needed, if you’re going to give.

Resist the urge to write an out into your ask. Here’s what I mean:

If you give to Wonderful Organization today, we can help find emergency housing for people who are out in the cold now.

The out hiding in there? You’ve just made your organization the actor, not the donor. Give us money and we’ll take care of it. That’s not nearly so persuasive as “someone is out in the cold tonight. But you can change that with a gift.”

See what I mean?

Empowered donors act. You can make them feel capable of doing something great.

Cut out the middle man

You want donors to feel they can trust you. Trust that you can and will do what you promise. So review your language – it is full of hedges? Are you “striving to” do something? Or “working to” to do something? Or are you actually DOING SOMETHING? Those hedges may make you and your colleagues more comfortable. They take off some of the heat. “Well, we’re TRYING!”

But donors are looking for ways to accomplish something good. They’ll be understanding – to a point – if you aren’t immediately successful. Or if circumstances are even worse than you expected. But you need to be honest with them, too.

If your mission says you feed people, then feed people. And ask people to fund that. As Yoda said, “Do. Or do not. There is no try.”

Focus is your friend

Think about these things and your appeal will be stronger. And a stronger appeal will raise more money.

Photo by Remi Turcotte