By nature, a direct mail appeal letter for nonprofit fundraising is just that—a letter. Just because it’s not a billboard, magazine ad, or website doesn’t mean that the overall look and feel shouldn’t matter as much. Though writing your annual appeal letter doesn’t feel like a flashy statement piece, it’s an important tool for effective fundraising, and nailing the design for your appeal letter is critical.
Here are our top tips when it comes to designing your appeal letter.
Tip 1: How to start an appeal letter: make it personal
Personalized letters will consistently outperform any communication that feels like it was sent to a broad group of people. This doesn’t mean you must write a separate version for each individual. Segment donors and use technology to help customize the letter.
Receiving a letter that greets the donor with “Dear Supporter” or “Hello Everyone” doesn’t make them feel special. A personalized salutation is important. You can also use the donors’ names in the body of the letter, further illustrating that you know who they are.
With today’s technology, there are plenty of ways to merge donors’ names into each letter with ease.
Another example is to have your letter signed by a specific individual from your organization, not just by the nonprofit. If you’ve ever written to the president of the United States, the reply letter sent back signed by President So-and-So always feels more special than “Sincerely, The White House” (even though you know Mr. President himself didn’t exactly sit down with a pen and paper, especially for you).
Tip 2: Strive for a heartfelt approach
When writing an effective annual appeal letter, it’s important that the content of the letter feels heartfelt in nature. The more the recipient feels like your campaign is authentic, the more likely they will donate to your cause.
To achieve heartfelt emotion, begin by telling a story. Write the letter like you are writing to your grandmother, using familial language.
For a prompt, you can try recapping an exciting or monumental moment in your organization’s history that someone reading would find inspiring. Or share with the donor an experience of a person or family your organization impacted. The goal is to hook your reader’s interest, capture their emotions, and leave them feeling like their gift will have an impact.
Tip 3: Utilize a simple annual appeal letter design
As we mentioned earlier, appeal letters are just that—letters. Do not feel compelled to include a montage of photography and fancy designs with your direct mail appeal letter. While you may think it helps with readability, breaking up the text with photos and graphics makes it harder to absorb the heartfelt storytelling aspect mentioned in tip number two.
Don’t send an overly designed letter; make it feel like a letter from a friend.
Are you looking for more design tips? Download the direct mail appeal template from Prenger Solutions Group.
Tip 4: How long should an appeal letter be? The longer the letter, the better
While it’s true that your message should be short, concise, and to the point in almost every other form of communication (text message, website copy, email), studies have shown that a fundraising appeal letter written in a longer format is more successful in garnering donations.
It is important to be clear and concise with your call to action, which should be included more than once throughout the letter. But don’t shy away from taking up the space you need to nail the heartfelt storytelling aspect mentioned above.
Use simple, easy-to-understand language, like writing a personal letter to a friend. Use indented paragraphs and consider writing a letter 2-4 pages long.
Tip 5: Emphasize important statements throughout your appeal letter
Be sure to highlight the most compelling parts using bold fonts, italics, or underlining. For example, if you’re telling a story about a record-breaking year in your animal rescue, you’ll want to underline and/or bold the number of animals adopted.
You can also underline and/or bold the different ways to donate, important dates, and deadlines to ensure information stands out in the appeal letter.
Great direct mail appeal letters don’t have to be complicated; they just need to be heartfelt and well-written. Use the letter to tell the story of your important mission, and let the pledge card do the heavy lifting of the ask.
For more insights on annual appeal letters, check out the Prenger Solutions Group webinar How to Write the World’s Greatest Fundraising Letter.
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