When starting a fundraising campaign, whether you are fundraising for a school, church or any other organization, an effective way to encourage people to donate is to provide incentives. Gaining support from local businesses and corporations through fundraising letters is a good way to bring in incentives such as prizes or exclusive discounts. It is possible to pay professional copywriters to produce fundraising letters for you, however this is not necessary. By writing and sending the fundraising letters yourself, you will save money and you will add a personal tone to the letter, which will allow you to outline the benefits of your cause with passion.

What are the benefits for the community AND the sponsor?
When writing a fundraising letter, it is important to emphasize the benefits that would come of the target company donating to your cause. Outline what you are raising money for. Why do you need this money? How will it benefit people in the community?

It is important not to forget that there are advantages for the company too, and it is your job to remind the recipient of this through the fundraising letter. Tell them how it will raise their profile in the community. Tell them how donating will align the company with the good cause for which you are raising money for. What will they receive for their sponsorship exactly? Where will you put their logo? Who will see this and what does that mean for them?

What? How? When?
It is important to be as clear and to the point in the fundraising letter. Be clear as to what you are asking from the company. This may be items which you would like to give out as prizes, exclusive discounts to include on a fundraising discount cards, or money. If you are asking for money, give a suggested donation size, and what that amount of money would provide. Give a tangible amount example if possible. An example of this can be found from charities such as water aid: “$3 a month, over a year, is as little as it could cost to help give a person safe, clean water for life”.

Make it clear how they should send the donation to you. Provide an address and a phone number. Make sure to include who they should make cheques payable to. Are you willing to pick up items that are donated in person? Make it as easy as possible for them to donate.

In order to stop the receiver throwing the letter in the to-do later pile, put a time restriction on the donation. Tell them when you are running your fundraising event. Tell them your goals. How much money do you aim to raise? When do you want to raise it by?

Increase the open rate and attention paid to your letter
It is likely that the person you are asking money from will receive other post a long with your fundraising letter. It is important to try and grab their attention from the start. By using a rubber stamp and an ink pad, stamp “IMPORTANT! Fundraising Discount Card enclosed” in red ink on the front of your letter. This should deter the recipient from throwing your letter straight in to the bin with promotional mail.

Make sure to use a P.S. In a single sentence reiterate what you are asking for and why, and thank them for reading your letter, and for any possible donation they can give, on behalf of your organization.

Make your letter easy to read
Break down the fundraising letter in to easy to read paragraphs. Separate different parts of the text with headings. Make sure to use easy to understand, positive language, but also appeal to the emotions of the recipient. Make it clear from the start who you are and what the aim of the letter is.

If you receive a donation…
Make sure to follow up donations with thank you letters and invitations to fundraising events! Send them a letter after the fundraising event to let them know how much you raised. Did you meet your target? Keep in touch with them and let them know what good comes out of their donation. This will encourage them to donate next time you are looking to raise funds!

Mark South

Fundraising for your non-profit organization is one of the most time consuming aspects of community inspired work. There is however, a huge and largely untapped pool of funds just waiting for you to collect.

When you say the word ‘grants’ to many non-profit organizations it instills fear and trepidation. Often they don’t have a dedicated grant writer so it’s a matter of pooling resources and even then, no-one has direct grant experience or knows where to start.

The government, large companies and philanthropic agencies have to give you their money. It’s the law. Well not so much for the companies, but government grants and some philanthropic agencies are governed by mandates to return funds to the community and they are eager to comply. Unfortunately, or fortunately for you the fundraiser, the quality of some applications is not all that great, but they have to award it to ‘somebody’.

So where does this leave you? In a very good position to raise funds without baking one more cake, or selling chocolates.

Like most fundraising, it’s essential to determine your cause or project that you want the funds for. Then it’s a matter of finding a grant that will give you the money. Finding a grant can often be the most time consuming part but again, the government is there to help – seriously. They provide all the information. Check out http://www.grants.gov for all the grants you can stand. They also provide handy hints on how to apply.

Don’t worry about the paperwork, they make it seem worse than it is. The most important documents you need to support your grant are:

Copy of incorporation (or similar documents proving your status as non-profit organization)

Copy of last financial audited report

List of all executive officers, their titles, signed on organization letterhead

The Grant application.

The application form itself is not as daunting as many fundraisers think it will be. Your supporting evidence is the most crucial part. To give the grant credence, it’s wise to get letters of support from other community and non-profit organizations in your area who would benefit – the broader the benefit the more likely the grant.

If you want to raise funds for a landscaping project for example, take photos to show them what you want to do. Contact the government department directly, to discuss your grant, try to get a representative to come out and inspect the project for, example lighting for a sporting field. Even if you’re confident about your application it’s always better if the department or organization know you’re applying and what your project is about.

Fundraising will always be a part of the non-profit organization and in my view it actually strengthens that organization. Grants can give this a huge boost and provide funds for larger projects or even staff members to do nothing else but apply for more grants.