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Four Goals of Every Renewal Fundraising Letter
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By Alan Sharpe
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In the fundraising profession, appeal letters that you mail toexisting donors are called renewal letters. They are designed tosolicit a gift, but, more important than that, they aim topersuade your current donors to renew their support of yourorganization. Donors renew their support with their cash, ofcourse, but they also renew it with their commitment--with theirhearts and minds. And that's why renewal letters are so vital.They help you maintain your broad base of support year afteryear, cost-effectively.
Renewal letters are part of a year-long program that is usuallycalled the Annual Giving Program. "Annual" does not mean thatyou mail just one letter a year (you shouldn't). It simply meansthat you look at your fundraising efforts as a year-by-yearactivity, one where you must persuade your active donors torenew their commitment each year.
Goal #1: Renew donor commitment
Theprimary goal of your annual appeal letters, then, is donorrenewal. Some donors give only once a year. Others giveregularly. And others send a few gifts during the year, butsporadically. You cannot expect that any of these donors willstay with your organization until death, theirs or yours. "Donorrenewal is not automatic," says James Greenfield, in his book,Fund Raising: Evaluating and Managing the Fund DevelopmentProcess.
This means that each letter you mail should aim to re-motivate,re-invigorate and rejuvenate your donors, encouraging them,explicitly or implicitly, to renew their commitment to yourorganization, or, more accurately, to the people that yourorganization serves. This is often done with the first appealletter of the year, but donor renewal is really a year-longactivity that takes place with every contact you have with eachdonor, whether it's a phone call, a personal visit or theirpresence at a banquet or other event.
Goal #2: Renewed gift
Naturally, yourgoal with every renewal fundraising letter is also to raisefunds. So you must ask for a gift in each renewal letter youmail. Wherever possible, make a mention of the last gift thatyour donor sent, and thank them again for their support. Andremember, the most effective renewal letters are those that askfor funds for a specific need, usually a project.
Goal #3: Upgraded gift
This goal isoptional. In some of your letters during the year (usually atyear-end), you have the option of asking your donors to renewtheir support at a higher level. This usually means askingdonors to increase the size of each gift. For example, asChristmas approaches, you can mail your donors a letter thatsays, "I am inviting you to renew your commitment by 10 percentthis year, to help us keep pace with inflation, and to meet ourambitious goals for the coming 12 months."
Goal #4: Conversion to monthly giving
Does your non-profit organization have a monthly giving program?If you do, then you know how gratifying it is to have donors whosend you a gift each month automatically from their bank accountor credit card. Annual renewal letters are a perfect way for youto convert your annual givers to monthly givers. There are a fewways to do this:
1. Send a letter whose primary goal is to persuade annual giversto join your monthly giving program. Spell out the benefits thatthe donor and your organization enjoy from monthly giving.
2. Use your postscript (your PS at the bottom of each letter) toinvite annual givers to join your monthly giving program.
3. Include a buckslip or liftnote in your letters, describingyour monthly giving program and inviting donors to sign up.
Asking recent donors to send you another gift is a lot easierand less expensive than acquiring a new donor. That's whyrenewal letters play such a vital role in helping yournon-profit raise funds affordably. Most donors who respond bymail do not send with their first gift enough money to recoveryour costs of acquisition. That's why their second gift andsubsequent gifts are so crucial. My hope is that yourfundraising letters will persuade your donors to stay with youfor a long, long time.
© 2005 Sharpe Copy Inc. You may reprint thisarticle online and in print provided the links remain live andthe content remains unaltered (including the "About the author"message).
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