The first step in having a successful direct mail fundraising campaign is having an understanding of the fundamentals — what direct mail is, what it is not and what to expect with a direct mail campaign.  These are three typical questions that many nonprofits who have not done a fundraising letter campaign before may ask.  […]

1. Failure to ask for a gift. Don’t assume that your donors will know what you want them to do. Ask for a gift.  And make sure to include a reply envelope to make it easy for your donors to send their gift to you. 2. Using a dirty list. Keeping your list clean is […]

Is there really such a thing as a one size fits all, donation request letter template?  Not really. Every cause, organization and audience is different.  The letter that your group sends to prospective donors should be tailored to your own circumstances and to the interest of the reader. On the other hand, I also know […]

I recently read a great donation request letter from Cristo Rey High School.  They are a Catholic, college prep school that provides a quality education for students from low income families.   Some of these kids may otherwise not finish high school and have an altogether different life, if it were not for this opportunity. Now […]

If anyone has the right to brag, it’s the President Elect.  But in last night’s acceptance speech, Barack Obama focused his attention on us. Discussing the speech on CNN David Gergen commented about how Obama focused not on himself, but on the voters. He told the story of a 106 year old woman, everything she […]

Marc Pitman, the Fundraising Coach, recently wrote, “Aren’t you tired of receiving fundraising appeals with a message of “If you don’t give now, we won’t survive”?” I have to agree. Even if your organization is having a tough time, this kind of message, especially sent in a mass direct mail appeal, is not a wise […]

Listen to the audio version of this message: MP3 File A few weeks ago I asked Step by Step Fundraising newsletter readers to send in examples of their organization’s fundraising letters.  While I thought it would be interesting to see some of your letters, I had no idea what awaited me. My email box was […]