Attract New Donors and Members with a Magnetic Direct Mail Donor Acquisition Package

By Alan Sharpe (March 2009) E-book  $9.99

Discover over 75 tips, insider secrets and proven tactics by analyzing a superb donor acquisition package from a national charity.

Your organization is doing well if 85 percent of your donors renew their support each year, according to Stanley Weinstein in his book The Complete Guide to Fundraising Management. To put it another way, you are doing well if no more than 15 percent of your donors fall away each year.

So do the math.

If your organization has 10,000 active donors, and if 8,500 (85 percent) of them renew each year, then 1,500 (15 percent) of them will drop off every year. Ouch. This is the main reason that you need to create and manage a well-planned, annual donor acquisition program. You cannot afford to simply mail to your existing donors only. You need to replace the donors who never renew. Without a steady influx of new donors, you will be moving backwards each year, not forwards.

Discover over 70 tips, insider secrets and proven tactics by analyzing a superb donor acquisition package from a national charity.

Attract New Donors and Members with a  Magnetic Direct Mail Donor Acquisition Package  is the eleventh Handbook in the Hands-On Fundraising Series, published by Andrew Spencer Publishing.  It teaches you proven techniques from the professionals for attracting new  donors and members.

Peek  inside the Handbook here (1.41 MB file size)

Topics covered

Mailing envelope

• seven tips for getting it right
• an unusual (but effective) place to put your logo
• how to use teaser copy
• illustrations on envelopes
• addressing tips
• why to use a postal indicia
• one good reason to avoid a #10 window envelope

Four-page letter

• 47 observations, recommendations and criticisms to help you produce winning acquisition letters
• tips for having a professional letterhead
• the value of a powerful opening line
• how to build rapport quickly
• introducing the need for funds in the right way
• when to introduce the writer
• when and how to introduce the organization
• the role of facts and evidence in the appeal letter
• the human interest angle, and how to use it
• formatting tips
• examples of transition sentences that keep readers hooked
• how to sum up
• how to ask for funds
• the sign off
• what color ink to sign the letter with
• who should sign the letter?
• the P.S. and what to say there

Peek  inside the Handbook here (1.41 MB file size)

Premium

• learn how to associate your premium with your cause
• how to pick a premium that turns your donors into advocates
• discover one way to keep your organization’s name and slogan top-of-mind with donors using a simple premium

Buckslip, two-sided

• five tips about buckslips
• what the buckslip should accomplish
• what to put on a buckslip
• should you ask for funds?
• the buckslip as a tool for overcoming objections to making a donation
• a few words about making statistics easy to understand

Reply device, two-sided

• 14 tips on writing and designing an effective reply device
• one-time gift or monthly gift—which should you ask for?
• how to capture email addresses
• a few tips on ask strings
• other vital information to ask your donor to supply
• advantages of pre-printing the reply device
• where to put legal copy—and why

Reply envelope

• two things that boost response with reply envelopes

Download this Handbook now. Start reading it—and profiting from its advice and examples—within minutes.

Product Details

Format: E-book in Adobe PDF format for immediate download
Pages: 24
Publisher: Andrew Spencer Publishing
Language: English
ISBN: 978-0-9784052-1-2
Dimensions: 8.5 x 11
SKU: sharpe016

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