How do you make your fundraising letters creative and fresh year
after year when your needs don't change all that much? I am not
talking about new initiatives. I'm talking about the programs
that you run year after year. The membership drive that you run
year after year. The funds that you must raise to cover
administrative expenses and salaries year after year. How can
you request funds for these things over time without boring your
donors into apathy? Learn a lesson from Jack Foster.
Jack Foster spent 35 years working in creative departments of
advertising agencies in the United States. One of his challenges
was doing the advertising for Smokey Bear. Here's how he
describes his predicament:
"The first thing the writers and art directors had to do every
year was come up with a basic poster.
"The rules for the poster never varied: It had to be a certain
shape and size; it had to feature Smokey; it had to be simple
enough to grasp at a glance, clear enough for even a dunce to
understand, and (if it had words) brief enough to be read in
three or four seconds.
"The mission of the poster never varied either: It had to
convince people to be careful with fire.
"In other words, every year we had to come up with the same
thing only different.
"And we did. Indeed, every year we came up with 20 of 30
different ideas for posters. Every year. For over 20 years. Over
500 posters, all featuring Smokey and all trying to do the same
thing and not a one of them the same."
I faced similar challenges when I worked at advertising agencies
as a copywriter, and as a freelance copywriter for direct
response agencies that create fundraising letters for
international non-profits. The work was tough, but I discovered
that writers and art directors could indeed create original
fundraising appeals year after year for the same clients who
needed money for the same things.
Here are some lessons I learned along the way, tips that will
help you present your case for support to your donors in
creative ways over time. The secret is knowing where to look for
ideas. Here's where I look.
Challenges in the field One place to look
for original ideas is the field. If your charity is involved
with child welfare, then your "field" may be the homes of your
foster parents. If you are a small but international
humanitarian organization, then the "field" for you is the towns
and villages where you operate overseas. As you sit down to
create a brand new appeal letter, look to your field and ask
yourself what challenges you are facing. These challenges can
often be translated into a compelling ask. Let me give you an
example.
Doctors Without Borders is an international aid organization
that sends volunteer doctors and nurses to places where no
medical infrastructure exists, usually because of war or natural
disasters. Since they never know where the next tsunami or civil
war will strike, they need to have sufficient funds on hand at
all times so they can respond quickly to a humanitarian crisis
anywhere in the world. This means their fundraising letters must
ask for funds for no particular emergency, but for emergencies
in general. A tough challenge.
Doctors Without Borders has met this challenge year after year
in creative ways. Here is just one. They realized that they
often sent their volunteers into emergency situations that were
created by water. Either there was a flood or there was a
drought. Either there was too much water or not enough. In a
brilliant move, Doctors Without Borders crafted an original
fundraising package that presented this global need. They told
their story in such a way that the need was obviously great,
though not necessarily looming.
Donors who received the appeal understood that Doctors Without
Borders needed funds on hand to meet the challenge of floods or
droughts at anytime. But they also understood that their gift to
the organization might be used to help victims of a cholera
epidemic, or people displaced by a civil war. By looking to a
challenge faced in the field, Doctors Without Borders created a
memorable fundraising letter campaign that did nothing more than
raise money for their general fund in a novel way.
Your frontline staff Another source of
creative ideas for fundraising letters is your staff,
particularly those at the front lines of your ministry. The men
and women who carry out your work face-to-face with the public
have dozens of stories to tell about the needs that your
organization meets and the people it helps. Many of these needs
can be translated into an appeal, not for a special project, but
a request for general funds to meet a given need. Here's an
example.
In talking with the staff of a ministry that works with inmates
in Canada's prisons, I discovered that most inmates have a
problem with anger. Their tempers often land them in prison.
And, while inside, they grow even more angry. As you can
imagine, a compelling theme for an appeal letter would be inmate
anger, and how a donor's gift supplies the funds that this
prison ministry needs to help inmates conquer their anger and
lead productive lives upon release.
Milestones Is your organization
celebrating a 10th or 100th anniversary? Then you have the
ingredients for a compelling appeal, provided you link past
successes with your plans for the coming months and years. Have
you just served your millionth meal? Or planted 500,000 trees as
of this week? Translate your milestones into compelling proof
that your organization needs your donors' continued support,
then put your proof on paper in the form of a persuasive
fundraising package theme and mail it.
Recent successes Similar to milestones
are recent successes. One organization I wrote for won the Nobel
Peace Prize. That became a theme for one mailing. Another
organization I know of retired their debt early, and announced
the fact with an appeal for funds.
The key to keeping your fundraising letters engaging and a joy
to read with each passing year is to present your work in new
ways. As Foster put it, "to come up with the same thing only
different." And the best places to look for those creative ideas
are your clients, volunteers and staff, and the challenges they
face each day in carrying out your mission.
© 2005 Sharpe Copy Inc. You may reprint this article online and
in print provided the links remain live and the content remains
unaltered (including the "About the author" message).
More Information:Alan Sharpe is a professional fundraising letter writer, instructor, coach, author and newsletter publisher who helps non-profit organizations to raise funds, build relationships and retain loyal donors using cost-effective, compelling, creative fundraising letters. Sign up for free weekly tips like this at
http://www.RaiserSharpe.com/ 
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