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Fundraising Letter Templates
Continue reading to learn the basics behind writing a fund-raise letter and how you can get started. Or, if you ’ d rather go heterosexual to our templates, use the list below to promptly jump to the fund-raise letter you need :
How to Write a Fundraising Letter
As you explore how to write a capital fund-raise letter, it ’ second important to follow a few key steps in order to write the most compel and effective letter potential. These steps include :
- Address your recipient personally.
By addressing your recipient role by name, they won ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate spirit like they are barely one of many reading this letter. Be indisputable to personalize your outreach with names so each subscriber knows you value their individual support . - Tell a story.
Show your reader the exit or problem your organization is working to address with a floor. Give details about the people you ’ re trying to help so it ’ second net how they can benefit from a contribution . - Define the problem.
clearly outline the larger issues and problems your clients are facing. Be equally aboveboard as possible when doing this . - Explain your mission and outline your goal.
Explain your want and how it 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 shock of the donor ’ mho gift and how it will make a deviation . - Explain how your donor can make an impact.
Before donors give, they want to know precisely how their contribution will make a dispute in the world. You ’ ve already defined a problem for them ; explain how their contribution will solve the trouble with specific actions. For case, if you ’ re raising money for an animal shelter, you can specify that a contribution of $ 50 will provide food for X amount of pets ! - Call the reader to action.
Explain the importunity of the situation so you can convince your readers to act promptly. Mention what your other donors ’ gifts have already done to address the problem and note the progress your current fundraiser is making .
In addition to following these steps, be indisputable to focus on the “ you ” and “ we ” lyric in your letter, but largely focus on the “ you. ” Your outreach should be about your proofreader and the impact they can make, and it should directly appeal to them. Using “ you ” and “ we ” language is crucial and helps provide a touch of human pastime to your fund-raise letter .
How long should a fundraising letter be?
A fund-raise letter should be concise. One page is a great distance, but some stories take a little longer to tell. A beneficial rule of flick is to use precisely as many words to define the trouble and necessitate donors to provide a solution—nothing more ! You may besides include extra materials ( such as data about matching gifts, extra details about your constitution, etc. ) or extra raise pieces to your appeal. If you decide to make your fundraising letter longer than one page, be certain donors know what actions you want them to take by the end of the inaugural page .
How should you send a fundraising letter?
Fundraising letters can be sent through a variety show of channels, though the more effective ones tend to be via e-mail and direct mail. In order to personalize your outreach, make certain your fund-raise letters are addressed to a specific individual, which is accomplished well through e-mail and direct mail. Don ’ metric ton just write “ Dear Donor ” rather !
Why are fundraising letters important?
Fundraising letters are crucial because they give you an opportunity to demonstrate your fiscal needs, perplex donors involved with your campaign, tell your emotional narrative, show donors why their gifts are significant, and create a long-run relationship with your assistant .
Fundraising Letter Examples
In order to get you started with your drafting, we ’ ve written some fund-raise letter examples for unlike scenarios surrounding different types of campaigns .
Standard Fundraising Letter
download This letter ! If you ’ rhenium asking for donations, you need to have a standard format that can be used as a service line for all of your other fund-raise letters. This letter should be:
- Donor-centric
- Personalized
- concise
This template is generic, but your fund-raise letters should be segmented depending on your relationship with the recipient. First-time donors should receive different letters than major giving donors, erstwhile donors should get different letters than recurring donors, and so forth .
This letter is quite inadequate and gets right to the point of asking for a contribution. Your letter will obviously be more specific and detailed depending on your mission and the projects your campaign will fund. You should besides add a P.S. message. here ’ mho why : most readers absorb a letter in a specific ordering. The holy order is as follows : donors read the salute first, then the P.S. message, and then the body of the letter. Since the P.S. is the moment thing they read, it ’ mho crucial that you use it to make an impact. It ’ s the arrant identify to reiterate your call to legal action ( where you ask people to give, tennessean, or whatever else you want them to do ) .
Be indisputable to besides include a pre-addressed and stamped envelope to make it easy for your readers to give !
Individual Sponsorship Letter
download This letter !
Sponsorship letters are alike to standard fundraising letters. The only difference is that sponsorships are normally tied to events like marathons, walk-a-thons, and fun runs .
The request for sponsorship might besides have a reward or incentive attached, such as:
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- The patron ’ second name included in promotional items and advertising materials .
- Certain merchandise related to the event .
- Seats or tickets to the event .
If you very want to make an impression on potential sponsors, ask them what incentives they ’ d like before sending the invoke. They may have ideas you ’ ve never considered !
As with the criterion fundraising template, this sponsorship request template can be tailored to fit your organization ’ randomness needs. You should always include more data about the event itself and what sponsors will receive in rally for their donations. Remember to keep this donor-centric, particularly if the recipient has sponsored your event or supported you in other ways in the past. If they have supported you in the past, make sure to reference that early gift and thank them for their by interest.
Volunteer Request Letter
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A volunteer request letter should focus on the work that a volunteer might do should they choose to work with your organization. It should besides let them know how their function will positively impact the people or community you support .
Volunteers are much more conversant with your arrangement if they ’ ve been involved in the past. If you ’ re writing a letter to person that you know has a history of volunteering with your constitution or other nonprofits, you should reference that participation and thank them for their servicing.
Corporate Sponsorship Letter
download This letter !
note that this letter asks for an in-person meet with the drawing card of the constitution. The company to which you ’ rhenium write may be hesitant to give money to a nonprofit organization they ’ ve never worked with earlier. in-person meetings are a good move evening with organizations that have supported you in the past ; most major donors prefer to handle their beneficent conversations in person. That includes corporations and other businesses !
An in-person meeting can greatly help your fundraising efforts. It allows the business leader to ask questions, press out concerns, and become more familiar with your organization—and with you ! Donors prefer to give to people preferably than organizations, even if they ’ ra part of a bad party. Your face-to-face meet will make them much more probably to give
again, this letter can be modified to suit your organization ’ south mission and needs.
Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Letter
download This letter !
Peer-to-peer fund-raise campaigns are one of the most effective ways for your nonprofit to raise money and spread the bible about your deputation on-line. Your supporters will launch personalized fund-raise pages on behalf of your lawsuit, then reach out to their personal networks to solicit gifts from friends, syndicate, and coworkers .
To give your peer-to-peer fund-raise participants an idea of how to solicit these gifts, offer them a template like this matchless. By filling in the blanks, they can easily craft effective and individualized solicitations .
When your participants sign up and start designing their fund-raise page, consider providing fundraising templates like this one to help 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 clamant access to the electronic mail section of their share tools.
Matching Gift Fundraising Letter
download This letter !
It ’ mho rare for all of your supporters to know what matching endowment programs are, much less if their employers offer matching gifts. This is why your nonprofit organization should plan to send matching endowment fundraising letters with supplementary data to late donors. These letters can outline how to check eligibility and send in a equal give request to complete the process .
As you prepare to send your letters, use a matching gift database to determine which of your donors qualify for a match endow. then, create a donor segment list in your CRM of these extra supporters .
additionally, be sure to highlight the fact that submitting this request will not require any promote giving on their part. Submitting this request is the best way for them to maximize the shock of their original endowment and is basically unblock money for your lawsuit.
School Fundraising Letter
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Schools are among the most common nonprofit organizations out there, and they by and large have an incredibly wide range of constituents. This is why it ’ s sol crucial that schools take their fund-raise needs badly and plan ahead for how they ’ ll request donations from community members .
To make your school ’ mho fundraising efforts more effective, create templates for unlike kinds of contribution letters based on the type of athletic supporter you ’ re address. possibly you ’ re soliciting a gift from a rear of a current scholar ; address them accordingly ! alternatively, you might want to draft a template of a solicitation addressed to an alumnus .
When creating your school fundraising letter template, your nonprofit organization should emphasize the impact your school has on its stream students and the future coevals of your community.
Church Fundraising Letter
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In your church fundraising letters, be certain to put your congregation ’ sulfur deputation first and foremost. You ’ ll want to immediately address your congregant ’ second smell of commitment to your church and make the most out of the existing relationship with this individual .
Your lector may already make collection plate gifts each Sunday, so you ’ ll need to make the case for them to make a more target endow outside of these offerings. Be certain to tell them precisely how much you need to raise and how that fund will be put to work .
constantly be leery of asking your residential district for gifts excessively frequently. One strategy to minimize the gamble 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 endow to celebrate their kids ’ summer vacation.
Animal Rescue Fundraising Letter
download This letter !
Animal rescue organizations serve an important function in your community, and you can parcel the importance of your work when writing a fund-raise letter. additionally, you can tap into your readers ’ aroused connection to animals to make the case for why they should give back .
In your letter, indicate supporters how their contributions will benefit specific animals. Personify the pets that you rescue and illustrate for your readers the massive impingement they can make in an animal ’ mho life if they decide to donate. In your letter, consider sharing an effigy of real-life animals saved by your rescue. Include a caption with the pet ’ randomness name and age as an add means to pull at your supporters ’ heartstrings. After they donate, send a thank-you letter with a follow up on these pets to emphasize the affect of their contribution .
Your animal rescue should besides send cut letters to different groups in your residential district. These could include individuals who adopted pets from your rescue, volunteers, or helpful members of the community who have dropped off lost or stray animals at your shelter.
Auction Item Request Letter
download This letter ! Auctions are great opportunities to raise significant funds for your organization, but procuring auction items can be slippery. Your goal should be to procure items that are appealing and will encourage your attendees to bid. Be sure to share the types of auction items or experiences you ’ rhenium looking for then donors understand what you need .
You can send these fundraising letters to local businesses equally well as early supporters of your arrangement and explain what the proceeds will go toward. Offer a compelling reason as to why they should contribute an token and make it clear who it will benefit .
How to Write a Fundraising Email
As mentioned earlier, email is an excellent channel through which you can send contribution requests. The best part? All of the fund-raise letter examples we ’ ve provided above can be well shared via electronic mail !
however, when it comes to writing a fund-raise e-mail, it ’ sulfur important to choose fundraising software that integrates with marketing tools. This will make it easy to segment your recipients and personalize your outreach without besides a lot feat on your end .
Consider the trace when writing a fund-raise electronic mail :
- Organize your database.
By segmenting your donors and tailoring your e-mail market toward different groups, you ’ ll be more likely to retain more donors and increase donations. Providing relevant content to the appropriate segments can make a huge remainder ! - Automate your outreach.
Using electronic mail market tools, you can automate your emails to be sent out on a set schedule so that you can regularly connect with supporters . - Use mail merge tools.
Use mail blend tools to send personalize emails to your constituents, mechanically inserting their preferable names into the correspond fields . - Guide recipients to your online forms.
Since emails are digital, you can customize your messages to drive traffic to your on-line giving forms. Call readers to action and make it easy for them to navigate to the shape and give .
Making sure your fundraising software works with electronic mail market tools is necessity because it makes tracking donations and communicating with donors even easier. Fundraising emails are childlike to organize and send, thus be indisputable to leverage these tools to create the most effective outreach potential !
How to Write a Donation Acknowledgement Letter
download This letter ! If your initial fund-raise letter is successful and a patron gives to your lawsuit or participates in an event, it ’ sulfur imperative that you show your appreciation with a contribution citation letter. Without your donors, your administration would not be able to develop important programs and fund animation changing projects that impact your campaign .
Sending out contribution acknowledgment letters does more than barely thank your supporters ! It besides helps promote a healthy and positive kinship between your constitution and donors, setting up a solid foundation for future engagement. Remember to send your letter soon after the donation is made so the engagement is fresh in the donor’s mind.
A bare thank you letter besides can encourage donors to give again, increasing your donor retention rates. When a donor gives a second time, it is much called the “ aureate donation. ” According to the Fundraising Effectiveness Report, only 19 % of fresh donors will give again. But once that donor completes the “ golden contribution, ” 63 % will give again, increasing their casual of becoming a lifelong giver .
When writing your contribution acknowledgment letter, keep in mind the same guidelines from your fundraising letter. Remember to be donor-centric, personalized, and concise ! Use their first name and even include specific contribution details .
You can easily convert this template to an e-mail form ampere well. To maximize the shock of donor recognition emails, your fundraising software should integrate with your marketing and communications cock. This means, you can automate the process. angstrom soon as supporters make their give, your market instrument will send out a thank you email personalized to that donor .
Donation Letters in the age of COVID-19
The importance of the contribution letter has not been diminished by COVID-19. In fact, some of your donors may appreciate a more personalized touch now more than ever ! however, there are a few identify things you need to keep in mind while creating contribution letters during COVID-19 :
- It’s okay to mention COVID-19. We’re all burnt out from the pandemic, and we all know it. But you don’t have to be afraid to mention COVID-19, especially if your mission has been impacted by the pandemic. Try infusing your message with hope that your donors can help you make a difference:
“ Before COVID-19, food insecurity in the U.S. was at its lowest levels of the past 20 years. now, as the pandemic increases food insecurity, we ’ ra working hard than ever to bring levels back to their 20-year low—but we can ’ thymine do it without your hold ! ”
- Expect mail delays. It’s no secret that the United States Postal Service has been busier than ever because of the pandemic. While the postal service has hired around 100,000 more workers to keep up with demand, they’re still trying to recover from the socially distanced holiday rush.
This doesn ’ triiodothyronine mean that you need to avoid sending contribution letters as a rule. merely keep in judgment that delays mean that time-sensitive letters may not make it in time… unless you send them even further in advance .
now is besides a capital prison term to make certain you have an “ instantaneous ” thank-you set up via customized electronic mail contribution receipts. A personalized, heedful thank-you electronic mail can have the same effect as a wallpaper letter, but you don ’ t have to worry about donors feeling underappreciated because the letter took besides long to arrive .
- Even with the delays with the postal service, you don’t necessarily need to cut down on how many fundraising letters you send. But before you add to the number you’re sending, now can be the best time to perfect your donation letters through compelling nonprofit storytelling. You don’t need to send more when your story makes an impact the first time!
evening though the COVID-19 pandemic has changed life as we know it, there ’ south still batch of room for successful contribution letters ! In fact, a personalize letter with potent storytelling that tells a donor precisely how much they ’ ve helped could be just the thing to brighten person ’ s day. And if you ’ re looking to automate your contribution letters, there ’ second never been a better clock time to improve the electronic mail selling scheme at your nonprofit organization !
