Do you know about - Fundraising Donation ask Letters Must Tell Great Stories (Three Samples)
Sample Donation Request Letters! Again, for I know. Ready to share new things that are useful. You and your friends.If your fundraising letter doesn't tell a great story, it's
not a fundraising letter. It's a memo. Direct mail
fundraising is all about storytelling.
How is Fundraising Donation ask Letters Must Tell Great Stories (Three Samples)
If you want your direct mail donors to reply to your
letters in greater numbers and with larger gifts, learn
the craft of storytelling. Learn how to write
human-interest stories that inspire, motivate and
move your donors--to give.
As a gospel preacher and one-time university
instructor, I've learned over the years that the
safest way to make your point stick is to tell a
story. As Uk fundraising counselor Ken Burnett
observes in his book, The Zen of Fundraising,
fundraisers should tell stories because "we have
some of the best stories in the world and the best
reasons of all for telling them."
Jesus Christ revealed involved truths about God's
character, God's prophetic plan for the ages, and
moral absolutes by telling parables. The Prodigal
Son. The Good Samaritan. Turn the other cheek. Go
the extra mile. These phrases are in tasteless use
today because the someone who coined them 2,000
years ago told stories. Memorable stories. Stories that
reached the hearts of His hearers.
Your fundraising letters need to do the same. And the
quickest way to a donor's heart is through the adrenal
glands. Consider, for example, this opening
paragraph from a fundraising letter mailed by
Covenant House:
"She stood on the curb seeing scared and lonely in a
skimpy halter top and keen red lipstick. It was two in
the morning. A chilly breeze whipped up in the street
and seemed to make her shiver. She was a child . . .
just a child. We pulled our compact House van up to
the curb and rolled down the window . . . ."
Or this opening story from an motion letter mailed by
The Cousteau Society:
"A shipwrecked sailor was struggling in the water. The
shore was near, but his compel was approximately spent.
Then suddenly there was a cordial nearnessy in the
water, a strong, sleek body that buoyed him up,
escorted him to shallow water, saved his life. This
story, or something akin to it, has been told countless
times about dolphins and porpoises."
Or this opening from an motion letter mailed by the
Ywca:
"Shortly after the newest increase in heating oil, a fuel
company received an inquiry from the mom classic
of a Convent: "How much," she asked, "has the price
of oil gone up? Wanting to break the news gently, the
salesperson asked, "Are you sitting down, Sister?"
Replied the nun, "I am kneeling." In its struggle to
become energy effective and cost conscious, the
Ywca has initiated priorities to be achieved as funds
become available."
The underground to crafting great fundraising letters is to
craft great stories. Anything you are writing about,
whether endangered whales, land mines, cancer
survivors or abandoned cats, look for the human
drama in your work that brings your message alive.
Then tell your donor a story. One with a happy
ending.
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