As a fundraiser, one of the best ways to raise money for your ministry is to write and send an appeal. It is also one of the hardest things to do well consistently.
Crafting an appeal takes time. It takes research. It means understanding your donors and prospects. When you combine each appeal element at the highest level, you will achieve great fundraising results.
An appeal is more than sharing your needs or asking for money. It is a personal and emotional connection that motivates donors to take action. After they read your appeal, they will feel compelled to respond. And they will do so because they know their act is making a difference.
Understand Your Donors
Want successful fundraising appeals? The first step is to know your donors.
If you don’t know your donors, you won’t know what projects, stories, or messages will resonate with them. And when you don’t know what resonates with them, your appeal will not receive the expected results.
To understand your donors better:
- Review your current data and analytics
- Create donor personas
- Conduct research and surveys
- Monitor feedback, comments, and engagement
- Look at previous successes
As you research, compare your observations to your data, such as donor demographics, interests, values, motivations, and behaviors. This helps you compare what you think you know to what’s actually happening. When there is a difference between the two, it can lead to new possibilities you haven’t yet considered.
Define Your Message
Write an appeal that has a clear and concise message.
Focus on one need, one project, or one story. Asking your donors to do too much or follow too many threads in an appeal will cause confusion. If you have more you want to share, then break it up into multiple appeals and send them at different times.
You must not only have a clear and concise message, but it should reflect your ministry’s mission. You need to connect the dots between your mission, the need, the solution, and how your supporters can respond.
A message that aligns with your mission will have a greater impact.
Tell Powerful Stories
Stories connect donors to the individuals they help. They provide a tangible example of the ministry's work and the donor's generosity. They also highlight the reason and need so donors get a clearer picture. Stories evoke emotions, create empathy, and make your ministry relatable to your donors.
The length of the story is not as important as its impact. You will use shorter stories for some channels, like email and social media. You have more space to tell a story with channels like direct mail.
Make sure, no matter the length of the story, you include these three components:
- The challenge
- The action
- The outcome as a result of donor generosity
Structure Your Appeal
Now that you know your donors and have a story for your appeal, it is time to write. But before you begin typing, create an outline. An effective appeal will follow this structure:
- The hook: In your first sentence, find a way to grab your reader’s attention. You can share a shocking fact, make a strong statement, or ask a question.
- Tell a story: Every appeal should include a story that will draw the reader in and connect them to the ministry.
- Describe the problem: Why are you sending this appeal? Create urgency and express the results if the problem is not addressed.
- Explain the need: Tell your donors how your ministry will fix the problem with their support.
- Add your unique value proposition: The appeal should include what makes your ministry unique to solve the problem and address the need.
- Close with a strong call-to-action: Every appeal must have a call-to-action that directs your donors to the next step. Your call-to-action will vary depending on the reason you send it. You may ask them to give or to become a monthly donor.
- Remember the P.S.: Like a story, every appeal needs a P.S. This is a re-statement of your call-to-action. Many people will read this before they read your letter. Sometimes the P.S. is the only section your donors will read, so make sure it has a call-to-action.
Use Compelling Language
Even with clear and concise content, it isn’t enough if it doesn’t compel the reader to act. Your appeal must capture your reader’s attention and create an emotional connection with them.
Here are some tips to help you write persuasive language:
- Write like your reader
- Make it emotional
- Write the way you speak
- Use active voice
- Choose adjectives wisely
- Use analogies
Incorporate Visual Elements
People love images. That’s why there is truth to the saying: A picture is worth a thousand words. This doesn’t mean you should have an appeal with only photos, but you can enhance your appeal with well-placed, intentional images.
Stay away from stock photos. Your donors can pick them out a mile away, and using them comes across as disingenuous. An authentic photo shows transparency and builds trust. If you need software to crop the image or adjust the lighting.
Use photos that match your message. If you add a picture of a person, add one of them, happy and smiling. Donors respond to smiles, not scowls.
Beyond photos, incorporate infographics and charts to enhance the appeal's impact.
Personalize Your Appeals
Personalized communications help a donor feel valued and connected. It shows you care enough about them to know their names and interests. Appeals that have personalized messaging have a higher engagement rate and lead to more conversions.
As you personalize your appeals, you will want to segment your donors. For example, you can create segments for donors, potential donors, and donor categories (e.g., major, midlevel, and general donors). Once you create segments, tailor the appeal to match their interests, behaviors, and history.
When segmenting your donors consider:
- How long the donor has given
- How often they give
- How they give (check, online, etc.)
- How much they give
- Why they give
- Their interests
Build Trust and Credibility
Potential donors will give when they trust your ministry. This is why you must communicate clearly and consistently. In your messages, explain how their gifts will make a difference.
When potential donors offer feedback, listen to their concerns and suggestions, and address them in a respectful manner. Another way to build trust is to provide value. Give them a resource or guide without strings attached.
Use one or a combination of methods to establish credibility in your appeals.
- Testimonials: A donor or volunteer quote explaining their experience with your ministry.
- Endorsements: A statement made by a well-known individual saying they support your ministry.
Both testimonials and endorsements provide social proof, giving them the confidence to trust you.
Demonstrate Impact and Transparency
Communication with supporters should not stop with an appeal. It is important to showcase the impact of donor contributions. This builds trust and deepens the relationship between the ministry and the donor.
Donors want to know how you use their contributions. They will give greater amounts when they see their generosity in action.
Sharing your financial information also demonstrates transparency. It helps donors make decisions about giving to your ministry. For transparency, include financial information on your website, in an impact or annual report, and donation receipts.
Create Urgency
Appeals that create urgency move supporters to act.
Supporters can see the need by adding real urgency to your fundraising appeals. They can understand what will or will not happen if they don’t respond. The fear of loss often encourages people more than the prospect of gain. You want the donor to think, 'I need to do something about this now to prevent the negative consequences.'
A word of caution: don’t use false urgency or resort to manipulation. This will diminish any trust and credibility you have earned from supporters.
To add real urgency to your appeals:
- Be direct, “donate to our ministry” is clearer than “support our ministry.”
- Explain why you need donations and the impact they have.
- Use urgent language such as “now,” “today,” or “hurry.”
- Set a deadline. This works well for matching gift opportunities.
- Tell emotional stories.
Seamless Donation Process
You can have a wonderful appeal with a powerful story and compelling images that have created a sense of urgency, but if the donation process has too much friction, you will lose donations.
Imagine going to an online donation page and clicking “submit” on two to three pages before your donation is accepted, or need to grab a return envelope so you can mail a check.
A streamlined and user-friendly donation process tremendously impacts your fundraising success.
Simplify the donation process and eliminate barriers to improve your fundraising success. You, team members, and donors should go through the donation process. As you do, ask these seven questions and then make adjustments.
- Are there too many form fields? Remove unnecessary fields that you don’t need to process the donation.
- Does the field layout make sense? Put related fields side-by-side.
- Are there too many decisions to make? The only decision a donation page should have is whether or not to donate. Remove menus and extra links.
- Is it confusing? Have a clear message with a straightforward call-to-action.
- Why do I get an error message? If a donor misses a required field, include directions how to fix it.
- Why do I need to register or create an account? Donors should be able to donate without having to remember a password.
- Why can’t I read this page on my mobile device? Many donors use a mobile device, so make all donation pages mobile-friendly.
Test and Measure Success
Sometimes it is difficult to know what text, images, story, or call-to-action to use in your appeal. Often this leads to second-guessing or paralysis. When this happens, turn to testing.
Conducting tests tells you more about your donors and what they respond to, so you can refine future appeals. Your appeals will perform better as you apply what you learn from each test.
One of the easiest tests to do is an A/B test. In an A/B test, you test only one element. If you’ve never done an A/B test, consider testing an image, a call-to-action, or a story.
Whether or not you test, measure the results of your appeals. For direct mail appeals, you should track return and response rates. With email appeals, you need to track the open, click, and conversion rates. And for all your appeals, keep track of the number of gifts, donation amount, and the average donation amount. Also, measure the number of first-time donors, new monthly donors, lapsed donors, and donors who give at a higher level.
The Art of Appeals
A successful appeal has many elements that create a compelling story and request. These elements work in direct mail, email, social media, and text.
Know your donors, their behaviors, their interests, and their preferred method of communication. Incorporate stories and images to have a greater impact. Through compelling and urgent language, people will respond. Then test and apply your findings to produce better appeals.
As you design the experience, from appeal to donation, you develop trust with your supporters, who will continue to give again and again.
Mastering the art of the appeal is a continuous process. With engaging appeals, organizations can connect with potential donors on an emotional level, inspire action, and drive meaningful contributions to support their ministry and mission.
Don’t delay. The time to start crafting your next great fundraising appeal is now.