Donors need lots of information to be persuaded to send gifts by mail.
They may say they want to read only short letters, but what they really crave are answers to their questions. And questions produce doubt or disinterest, the parents of inaction. If it takes an extra page or two to answer every question you can anticipate, increase the budget and stifle your natural tendency to keep your message short and sweet. The results will vindicate you.
Donors are skeptical.
It is best to head them off at the pass by volunteering information about the unique character, the impact and the cost-effectiveness of your work. And they want proof you're really doing the things you say you are doing. Abundant details - facts - will get that point across.
An appeal is too long only if it does not convey the information that donors want.
Human interests sells - and probably doubly so in human service appeals. A story, especially about children, is a great way to humanize a fund raising letter.
If there's a way to misunderstand your message, donors will find it. They will miss important points if you do not emphasize them. They will be thrown off by awkward transitions, unfamiliar words, poor word choices and attempts to gloss over details. Words matter. Format and design affect understanding. In a fund raising letter, the only tools you have are words, numbers, typography, pictures, paper and ink. Use them all wisely; you have no other way to establish your credibility by mail.
Raising money by mail is endlessly tricky business and no amount of knowledge will equip a fundraiser to avoid occasional unpleasant surprises. But experience, insight and market research like a focus group can help narrow the uncertainties and enlarge the odds of success.
Focus groups may not be cost-effective for your organization and they're certainly not needed for every fund raising letter, but friends, family and co-workers can informally evaluate your writing and the design of your package. That way, you too might find you are achieving the effect you thought you were.
Usually we get not more than 20 -30 seconds of the donor's time spent on our mail. During this short time period this person either finds something for his or her benefit or the mail goes into a trash can. We can divide the crucial first twenty seconds into three phases:
Phase One, before the envelope is opened - eight seconds on average. During this time, recipients turn over the envelope, note how it's addressed, read the return address and any text, look for a way to open the envelope and finally tear it open.
Phase Two, lasting approximately four seconds. The reader picks up and examines the contents. Even before he/she has read a single word, the materials have immediate impact on him/her. He/she unfolds them, forming a general impression of what they contain.
Phase Three, another eight seconds. That is the first run-through, the reader examines the pictures and headlines, finding short answers to his/her silent questions. If the writer has done a good job, the reader is now fully engaged in the short dialogue.
Remember that the writer's objective is to involve the reader by persuading him/her to read some of the blocks of text in the letter - to become involved in the comprehensive second dialogue. This means you need to get your reader's interest long before the twenty seconds are up. The recipient will continue reading only if the benefits to him/her are obvious within the first few seconds. And that's why he insists a letter needs to express the advantages to the reader by using pictures and headlines and underlined words and phrases.
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to
Fund RaisingArticle Source: http://www.ArticleSphere.com
