"Specifics" Can Boost Donor Results 10% or More
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Your mission is a wonderful “product” to sell. This is good news. Because even incredible copy can’t turn lead into gold. And as a copywriter myself I take this seriously.
So let's boost results and sell your mission. First recognize fundraising letters as a special form of sales letter. Let’s quickly compare:
Sales Letters
- Product
- Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
- Benefits (of the product)
Fundraising Letters
- Mission
- How are you unique from every other hospital; what do you do that no other world relief organization does; or how do you do it better?
- How donors help you succeed (benefits of mission); tell personal stories and share how the donor can help make an individual life better with their donation of $X.
Understanding how fundraising letters equate to “typical” sales letters is the first step to boosting results.
And the next fact to remember is the reader – the donor – should always be the star of your fundraising letters! Now how is it achieved?
Your message must be specific and unique and touch donors as deeply as possible. Evoke a strong emotional reaction with precise examples of how donors’ money is used while uniquely showcasing your mission with personal stories. Do all that and your donors will feel they are the key to your mission success.
Specifics sell! Therefore, share exact details how donors’ money helps save lives, or how it helps make lives better. Here are a few brief examples:
Vague
- 50,000 people live in abject poverty and squalor in the slums of Haiti; starving; and all desperately need your help.
Specific
- Your gift of $100 can feed an entire family of 4 for a full year! And you make it possible for Latisha and her brother Manual to eat every day. Before they took turns eating every other day to stretch their food.
- Can you give $2,000? That's all it takes in Haiti to build a new, clean safe home. You'll help an entire family get out of the slums forever!
Vague
- We're eager to expand our fitness program at XYZ Home for Seniors. Please give as generously as possible. They're depending on you.
Specific
- A gift of $20 buys a "balance training disc" for our expanding fitness program. Our residents will use at least 10 during every session.
- With 40 sets of resistance tubes (gentle strength training); at only $7 each, we'll help our residents keep their muscles in shape. And that can help prevent falls that cause broken hips.
Specifics are part of the secret to keeping your donor the star of your letters. You’ve got a marvelous mission! Get all the support you can by telling donors exactly . . . and in great detail how you'll use their money; and how they help you succeed.
This is part of the benefit donors receive when they give. And when you also weave in an emotional personal story or two with the specifics . . . WOW! You’ve just written a fundraising letter with potential to boost results 10% or more.
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Welcome
to "Karen's Fundraising Tips." Today's newsletter (which you can read in 3-5 minutes . . . tops) includes guidelines on boosting donor results 10% or more, and a link to an article that may help with your corporate gifts.
