Perhaps you work for the county humane society. . . the AIDS project in your area. . . the local hospice. Whichever nonprofit cause you support, as an employee or a volunteer, there is always one aspect in common -- the need to raise funds.

Whether it's a gala event, a direct mail solicitation, or a telemarketing effort, the organization's fundraising success depends on how deep consumers/ businesses reach into their pockets.

In his book Billions by Mail (Tabor Oaks), Francis Andrews said "Donors acquired by mail, cultivated by mail, and renewed by mail, will contribute in a consistent pattern over a long period of years." This Special Report will look into strategies for success with regard to your direct mail fundraising efforts. A collection of advice from industry experts, it will provide you with surefire steps you can follow in your next campaign.

Take a look at some basic facts provided by Bob Stone in his book Successful Direct Marketing Methods (NTC Business Books, 1988). Think about these points, how they apply to last your fundraising effort, and how they can help you improve the next one. Consider the following:

1. Direct mail is now the primary fund-raising method used by nonprofit organizations -- accounting for 1/3 of all dollars contributed.

"The GMHC raises approximately $4.5 million a year, or 25 percent of its budget from direct mail." ("The Fight for Life at the Gay Men's Health Crisis." DM News, May 11, 1992.)

2. The highest percent of response in a fund-raising effort comes from previous contributors. Have you kept a thorough database of past donors? Do you know how much they donated and how often?

3. It generally is agreed that people respond best to emotional appeals backed by rationale for giving.

"A number of fundraising strategies have worked for Disabled American Veterans (DAV), but generally, the more emotional the appeal, the better it produces for us. Case studies of personal experiences work well for us." ("Fundraising Strategies for Bottom-Line Success." DM News, May 18, 1992.)

4. People tend to respond more readily to appeals for specific projects rather than for general needs. In other words, don't just ask for $50,000 for the XYZ Foundation -- explain that the money will be used to build a new facility, or to purchase new equipment that will in turn enhance your service, etc.

James Lumley explains that when you show readers, by specific description, just why the funds are needed and what is done with the money it gives psychological value to the donor (Sell It By Mail, John Wiley & Sons).

5. The average contribution amount tends to increase when specific contribution amounts are suggested. In a letter I wrote I closed with: "Your total support of $100 last year was of critical importance. Your gift today to the Red Wagon Club of $100 or $120 will help begin stories of hope, like mine, for other children."

"If a person gave $40 as a membership gift, we wouldn't give them the opportunity to downgrade to $20 by sending a $20 renewal notice," Litrides said. "We'd base (the suggested renewal amount) on the previous membership gift." ("The Turnaround at the Arthritis Foundation." DM News, March 1, 1993.) (NOTE: Lindy Litrides joined the Foundation in 1990 as marketing vice president.)

6. Total amount pledged tends to be greater when a multi payment plan is offered. (i.e. "Contribute $400. Pay $100 now and we'll bill you $100 each quarter.")

7. Setting a specific date for meeting a fund-raising goal tends to increase response and total contributions. In a letter I worked on for the local YWCA I wrote: "To help us meet this challenge please complete and return it (your pledge form) to the YWCA by September 15, 1992."

1. Localization. "When Americans were recently asked what causes they're most likely to support these days, the most frequent response was 'charities close to my home.'

"Helping thy neighbor has never been a stronger appeal than it is today. That means you should localize your appeal. The first key is to make your packages, look, feel and smell local."

FOR EXAMPLE: Special Olympics is "already encouraging the chapters to do their own direct mail with local return addresses. In the first such effort, for a February acquisition mailing in North Carolina, response rates rose 40%, Freedman reported." ("Special Olympics Shapes Up Its Direct Mail." DM News, May 9, 1994.)

"The society (National Multiple Sclerosis) has abandoned its 'one-size-fits-all' copy approach and begun 'positioning' mailings in such a way that they appear to come from local chapters rather than the national group." ("Late to DM, National MS Society Builds Its Database." DM News, March 1, 1993.)

2. Relationship marketing. "They're (donors) gravitating toward charities that take the time and effort to establish a true give-and-take relationship. . . . savvy organizations are learning what the donor likes and thinks and needs.

"We've even seen personalized greeting cards, and buckslips that recognize donors' first-year anniversary with the organization. . . . however you decide to cement your relationship with your donors, do it now. If you don't, your competitor will."

FOR EXAMPLE: Disabled American Veterans (DAV) ". . . techniques include personalized tipped-on membership cards and personalization of the certificate facsimile on the reply form." ("Fundraising Strategies for Bottom-Line Success." DM News, May 18, 1992.)

However, here's an interesting point I uncovered when reading DM News. In a recent study performed by direct mail fundraising consulting firm Russ Reid Co., CEO Russ Reid reported, "The myth is the idea that everybody wants a relationship. Only 53% of those (donors) surveyed thought it was desirable or necessary. The good news is that those who want a relationship are the high-end donors. . . .

"Those most receptive to a relationship are those who have donated between $500 and $999 annually. . . " ("Nonprofit Donor Survey Points to Religion as Determining Factor." DM News, Jan. 30, 1995.)

3. Technological breakthroughs. "The list of options is endless...calligraphic fonts, handwriting fonts...state flags, state birds, personalized refrigerator magnets, Post-It notes, cartoons and more. In short, these new technologies are making mail more personal, credible, memorable and affecting than ever before."

FOR EXAMPLE: Not too long ago, I received a personal solicitation mailing from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Stuck to the first page of the letter was a Post-It note (with a handwritten font) that read:

"Miss Jason,

The cancer research we are doing right now may someday benefit you or someone close to you.

Please read this important letter and see how.

Thank you!

Mort Chute"

4. Multiproduct marketing. "Today's strongest charities. . . offer their clientele a lot of options and choices.

"Where do you start? The first step is to analyze your file to really determine what offers seem to generate the highest gifts, biggest responses and the most repeat gifts." (DM News, November 21, 1994.)

Here's an interesting point that I think most fundraisers will find helpful and should pay careful attention to. "One surprising finding the survey uncovered is that 'baby boomers' are not as selfish as generally perceived," according to Reid. "People aged 18 to 29 ('baby busters') gave only $20 a year less than those over 65, the group usually cited as the largest donors to charities.

"And people between 30 and 50 were found to give at least twice the annual amount of those younger and older (DM News, Jan. 30, 1995)."

As in every direct mail campaign, it's difficult to be effective with your audience unless you know who they are? Are they baby boomers. . . baby busters. . . between 30 and 50. . . over 65? Do you know more than just their names and addresses? Do you know their likes and dislikes. . . the challenges they face. . . etc.?

Needless to say, knowing them is critical. The more you know, the better you'll understand how to "push their buttons" -- the right buttons that motivate them to take action.

Professional fundraiser Leslie Mandel suggests that, "Effective fundraising today requires that you know your donors' and prospects' hobbies, what's going on in their lives, who's ill or has been ill in their family. If means knowing their friends.

"Such knowledge can be incorporated into a truly personal mailing or telemarketing campaign. . . . try to see the person behind the data. . . . It's a philosophy that can lead to some exciting, intimate copy and--more important--loyalty, good will and the ultimate reward: donations." (DM News, November 11, 1991.)

Leslie offers three different approaches you may wish to choose from when executing your next fundraising effort:

1. Special gift fundraising: ". . . a board member with a specific donation-request amount in mind approaches a prospect personally. . . You should never ask for too little, but if you ask for too much you can expect an awkward meeting."

2. Corporate solicitation: "Here, the key is to find out who makes the decision and what amount is normally given. It's usually the president or the board chairman, but it could be the head of advertising. . . Sometimes the corporation has a foundation."

3. Foundation solicitation: "The larger the foundation, the stricter it is about the types of charities it supports. The Foundation Library, in New York City, can help a fundraiser get an idea of its chance of obtaining a gift from a particular corporation. Large-staff foundations usually require a formal, in-depth proposal for a committee approval."

You've taken the time to research your audience. . . you know more about them than just their sex and birthday. . . you've decided on the fundraising approach you want to take. What's next? Copywriter and author Herschell Gordon Lewis offers four rules to follow (on the Art of Writing Copy, Prentice-Hall, Inc.) when writing your copy:

1. Effective fundraising reaches the most people who might contribute and avoids those who never would or could contribute.

FOR EXAMPLE: Many organizations mail blindly to ZIP codes on the assumption that a ZIP code gives them a homogenized universe. For instance, Chicago has a ZIP code 60610 -- it includes a group of lake front high-rise buildings with high-income people. A good target. BUT it also includes the Cabrini Green housing project -- not a target likely to contribute.

2. Operate inside the experiential background of the person you're writing to.

Don't assume that your mailing will work because your cause is worthy or because you personally are emotionally involved. That's not a motivator to your prospect. Instead give them incentive to donate to the cause by offering something that relates to their needs.

FOR EXAMPLE: A museum doesn't ask for just a donation, they ask you to become a sustaining member of their Board. A mailing asking for money to fight heart disease may say "Enter the have-a-heart sweepstakes" instead of just "Have a heart."

3. Since you're operating inside the reader's experiential background, select and shape a selling argument that you think will push his or her emotional buttons. Lewis gives an example of a mailing done by CARE. It appeared to be typed on a yellow notepad and spoke of the drought in Africa. "The message transmits a sense of urgency to many who wouldn't respond to conventional mailings."

4. Tell the reader how much to give. Related to Bob Stone's basic fact #5: When writing prior donors, remind them how much they gave last time and this time ask them for a little more.

* Use emotionally-packed episodes instead of quoting statistics.

FOR EXAMPLE: Instead of staying "Nearly 1,110 deaths a day from cancer. . ." try "We lost little Johnny today. All the tears we shed, the prayers we said, and all the determination of his doctors didn't help him. But, we might save Mary. She's a young whippersnapper at 8 yrs. old and. . ."

From James Lumley:

* Fund raising should be specific. Show specific incidents/atrocities that can be solved with the donor's money.

FOR EXAMPLE: Show an animal digging in the sand for food in an environment that's rapidly being destroyed by mankind.

From direct marketing consultant Joan Throckmorton:

* "Fantasy-come-true. . . can also be used in fund raising. 'Imagine what you could do to help realize this dream' is an excellent approach to fund raising as long as the dream is realizable."

FOR EXAMPLE: The Children's Hospital Foundation letter that I wrote (referred to earlier) touched people with copy that read. . .

"When I was 11½ years old I was diagnosed with cancer. I didn't think I'd live to see my wedding day. Now I'm 22 and on July 14, 1990 I walked down the aisle thanks to The Children's Hospital. . .

"As a recovered adult, I fear that some of today's children won't be as lucky as I am. . . not unless you help. Donations from charitable people like you contributed to my story of recovery. . . . Please help begin stories of hope for children by sending in your contribution today!"

* The Story Approach. "People enjoy a good story and if you have a short relevant one that pulls your prospect right into your benefits, don't be afraid to use it. If it's very good (and very pertinent) and your writing is especially keen, you might even consider starting on the envelope."

FOR EXAMPLE, a letter written by Frank Johnson for the Nature Conservancy starts out like this:

"Dear Investor,

The bug-eyed bird on our envelope who's ogling you with such distemper has a point. He's a native American sandhill crane and you may be sitting on top of one of his nesting sites.

As he sees it, every time our human species has drained a marsh, and plowed it or built a city on it, since 1492 or so--there went the neighborhood. It's enough to make you both a bit edgy.

So give us $10 for his nest egg and we'll see that a nice, soggy spot--just the kind he and his mate need to fashion a nest and put an egg in it--is reserved for the two of them, undisturbed, for keeps. . . "

In his article, Answer Readers in Fundraising Letters, Warwick says ". . . getting to that big YES!--a check-mark on the reply form, along with a check--is merely a matter of helping the reader answer yes a lot more frequently than he answers no. . . . The letter writer took pains to engage you in a dialogue. She answered your questions (spoken or not). She went out of her way to involve you in a conversation--silent and one-sided, to be sure, but nonetheless involving.

"Answering your reader's questions before they're even asked...The trick to this craft, Siegfried Vogele tells us, is to anticipate the questions that will be on the reader's mind--and answer those questions clearly and forcefully." (DM News, November 21, 1994.)

How do you know what questions your readers have circling in their minds? What are Warwick and Vogele referring to? In his article, Warwick offers a list of questions that donors (existing and prospective) might ask themselves when reading a fundraising letter (yours in particular). Here are just a few of the questions on his list:

* Where did this letter come from?

* Who wrote this letter? Who signed it?

* What do they know about me?

* Why are they writing to me specifically?

* How much money do they want from me?

* Can they prove what they say?

* Have I heard of this organization before?

* Have I given to these people before?

* Do they really need my help?

* What difference will it make if I respond?

* Will they expect me to give them money every year?

* How much of this gift will actually be used the way they say?

* How do I know they're honest?

Debra Jason is a seasoned copywriter,Web marketing consultant, and owner of The Write Direction in Kauai, HI. Specializing in direct marketing, she writes copy for brochures, catalogs, collateral, direct mail packages, Web pages and more for small and large businesses in Kauai and beyond. She may be reached by phone at (808) 826-1846 or Email: debra@writedirection.com.

© Copyright 1995-200, 2008 by Debra A. Jason dba The Write Direction. All rights reserved. No portion of this paper may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or using any information storage/retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the author.

Andrews, Francis. Billions by Mail. Massachusetts: Tabor Oaks

Gaffny, Thomas and Murdock, Richard. "Seven Trends in Direct Mail Fundraising," DM News, November 21, 1994.

Hart, Max L. "Fundraising Strategies for Bottom-Line Success," DM News, May 18, 1992.

Lewis, Herschell Gordon. on the Art of Writing Copy. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1988.

Lumley, James E.A. Sell It By Mail. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1986.

Mandel, Leslie. "It's Hard Times: Time for Mailers to Get Personal." DM News, November 11, 1991.

Riggs, Larry. "Nonprofit Donor Survey Points to Religion as Determining Factor." DM News, January 30, 1995.

Riggs, Larry. "Special Olympics Shapes Up Its Direct Mail." DM News, May 9, 1994.

Riggs, Larry. "The Turnaround at the Arthritis Foundation." DM News, March 1, 1993.

Riggs, Larry. "Late to DM, National MS Society Builds Its Database." DM News, March 1, 1993.

Riggs, Larry. "The Fight for Life at the Gay Men's Health Crisis." DM News, May 11, 1992.

Stone, Bob. Successful Direct Marketing Methods. Illinois: NTC Business Books, 1988.

Throckmorton, Joan. Winning Direct Response Advertising. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1986.

Warwick, Mal. "Answer Readers in Fundraising Letters." DM News, November 21, 1994.