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Write Effective Fundraising Letters By Being Conversational
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By Alan Sharpe
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I am doing what you do, sitting at my computer, trying to get mythoughts out of my head and into a written form that will helpyou make a decision. In this particular case, I am trying towrite a few intelligent remarks about sounding conversational onpaper. You know, how to write a fundraising letter that soundslike it came from the mind of a person and not an institution.
I suppose the first thing I can tell you is that you shouldwrite the way you talk, unless, of course, you talk in haltingsentences punctuated with "ya knows" and "like, you know what Imean?" And if you usually write fundraising letters that aresigned by someone else, your executive director, for example,then you need to write the way that person speaks.
The secret to sounding personal and conversational on paper isto imaging that you are actually having a conversation with yourdonor. A back-and-forth exchange where your donor asks questionsand you supply answers. That way, your letter sounds like it iswritten by a living, breathing person, since it addresses issuesthat are important to the donor, and does so in a warm, livelystyle.
Which reminds me, try to keep your sentences short. Not like theone that ended the last paragraph. What else can I tell you?
Rhetorical questions are one device at your disposal. Rhetoricalquestions, as I am sure you know, are questions that are askedfor rhetorical effect, not expecting an answer. You can use oneor two in your letter if you like. Rhetorical questions createthe sense that a conversation is taking place between you andyour donor.
I don't have to tell you that another way to soundconversational is to use the first person a lot. That means yousay, "Your gift today means a lot to me," instead of saying"Your gift today means a lot to us," or, even worse, "A giftfrom you designated towards our Annual Fund will be appreciatedat this time." Remember, people give to people, not toestablishments, so you want to sound like a person, not anorganization when you write your donor appeal letters.
I just thought of another one. Without being fake or insincere,mention that you thought of your donor today, or yesterday, orrecently, showing that there is a relationship between the twoof you. Naturally, only say "I was thinking of you this morning"if you actually were. Otherwise you will be making stuff up.
You may be relieved to know that that you can be colloquial,too, which is a humdinger of a way to establish rapport andsound genuine. If your donors know what a humdinger is, then byall means throw one into your letters at least once a year. Yougoal, if I may say so, is to sound authentic without beingoverly familiar or coarse.
Another way to sound conversational is to be open in the way youtalk about things. Give your donors a glimpse into what life islike at your organization. You probably want an example of whatI mean, so here it is (here are two examples, actually):
Institutional: "Your membership is about to expire."Conversational: "I see from our records that your membership iscoming up for renewal soon."
Institutional: "Prayer meetings were held today at head officeabout Hurricane Katrina." Conversational: "All of us here at theoffice in London met this morning to pray for the victims ofHurricane Katrina."
Another sure way of avoiding "bureaucratic-speak" is to sayeverything in the active voice. Don't say "funds were raised"when you can say "we raised funds." Avoid writing "100scholarships will be created" when you can instead write "wewill create 100 scholarships." See the improvement? Passivevoice sounds institutional. Active voice sounds conversational.
I suppose if you went back to the start and began reading thismessage again, you'd pick up a few methods that I did notmention (using parentheses like this, for example, which look asthough you are lowering your voice and whispering a piece ofinside information to your donor). I hope that these tips helpyou write effective fundraising letters. Ones that come fromyour heart, and are effective mainly for that very reason.
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