Writing the Annual Appeal Letter

Overview

Writing an annual appeal letter involves more than asking your donors for money – you are telling the story of your organization and laying out a case for investing in your programs and services. With so many organizations sending out their appeals at the same time, standing out in the crowd is vital. This course will show you best practices for creating compelling, clear, and concise appeals that get those checks rolling in!

Key Concepts

• Identifying a core theme to center your story around
• Turning data into a narrative
• Pros and cons of printing in-house versus using a print shop
• Putting a human face to your mission
• Using voice and tone to best reflect your organization’s mission
• Using mail merge to simplify the addressing process

Learning Objectives

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Recognize the elements of an effective annual appeal letter.
• Identify creative ways to personalize your appeal.
• Analyze your data to improve your appeal letter.

Audience

Whoever writes the appeal for your organization, such as:

• For smaller organizations, the Executive Director and board members
• For larger organizations, the Development Director or Communications/Marketing Director, or other members of fundraising/development or communications/marketing teams