Simply received an attention-grabbing piece of unsolicited mail fundraising, and I need to present you some issues about it. Essential truth about it:
- It’s from Covenant Home. That is the group that some years in the past had the legendary unsolicited mail pack that included a small paperback guide stuffed with highly effective tales of homeless children.
- It’s donor acquisition; I’ve not donated to them earlier than.
- It might be a management: I feel I bear in mind receiving it earlier than.
It’s an attention-grabbing pack, with loads happening in it. I’m simply going to focus right here on using storytelling within the letter.
It’s a four-page letter. It opens with a narrative:
It was simply after darkish, and I had gathered with our children, our donors, our employees, and my household on the shelter. We fashioned a circle to mark the night time collectively in prayer and thanksgiving for each other and the reward of God’s love on the planet.
And the story goes a full three pages. All in italics. The story ends on the primary line of web page 4.
That’s when it lastly begins addressing the reader and stops being in italics. The one tackle to the reader earlier than that’s half-way down the primary web page, within the fifth paragraph:
I pray this story, an embodiment of the spirit of what Covenant Home can do, strikes you to be part of blessing our youth this winter.
An oblique ask.
The final three paragraphs are a extra typical ask:
Please … will you assist us present shelter and like to the droves of homeless children who will come to our Covenant Home disaster shelters this Christmas? Your Christmas reward in the present day — no matter you may afford — will give children like Jeremiah meals, counseling, drugs, and a protected place to sleep away from the harmful streets. However most of all, you may be giving them the love and dignity each youngster deserves. Please assist in case you can! We merely can’t take care of the 1000’s of youngsters who will come to us this Christmas with out the assistance of fine individuals such as you…
The P.S. is sort of an entire enchantment by itself:
P.S. Tonight, greater than 2,400 hungry, scared, and all-alone children will sleep in our shelters. We’re seeing extra children in disaster than ever and will actually use your assist in the present day. There’s no different strategy to say it — the necessity is pressing. Please assist our children this Christmas. Your reward might be put to quick use to offer much-needed protected beds, wholesome meals, academic help, counseling, job coaching, and extra for our children. Thanks once more for doing what you may and for believing with us that each younger particular person deserves a protected place to sleep, particularly at Christmas.
This letter does quite a lot of issues I typically don’t suggest in fundraising:
- It opens with the story. (Although I’d say this story earns that method.)
- It’s a quasi-complete story — a few child who is available in for assist who finally ends up donating all he has to assist different children. We don’t be taught if he broke free from homelessness or not. However he’s clearly higher off on the finish of the story than firstly.
- It goes almost three full pages with out addressing the reader. In case you did the I/you pronoun depend, it wouldn’t look good! (When it does discuss to the donor on the finish in within the P.S., it does a superb job of it.)
But when it’s a management as I think it’s, meaning it’s working.
This tells us two issues:
- Tales are very highly effective in fundraising. So highly effective that in some circumstances they’ll overcome the “guidelines” we attempt to comply with.
- Even with an incredible story, you continue to must do a bunch of different issues proper to succeed!
In case you’d prefer to learn the complete letter, you may obtain a scan right here.
Extra on Storytelling for Fundraisers.
