Back in 1985, which I now realize is more than 20 years ago, a homeless man stood at the corner of College and Yonge streets, in downtown Toronto, begging for money. This was his cry:
"Quarter! Quarter! Dime! . . . Nickel! . . . Eeeeeeeeven a penny will do!"
Of all the panhandlers that I met during those four years that I walked the streets of Hogtown, I remember this man alone. He stirred an emotion that made him unforgettable.
That emotion was pity.
I can recite his pitch word for word because it was so pitiful. He didn't change a word of it in four years. He yelled his appeal all day, every day, from the same corner at the uncaring masses. He clearly had a mental illness and couldn't work. He didn't appear alcoholic. So my heart was moved whenever I passed his corner, and I sometimes dropped change into his outstretched hand, and spoke a kind word.
I donated to his cause for the same reason that your donors can donate to your cause—compassion.
When you sit down to craft a fundraising appeal letter, look for the problems in your work that stir in you feelings of pity, compassion or sympathy. If something stirs your heart, it will likely stir your donor's heart.
Look for painful feelings or situations that you share with those you serve. Look for the sympathy that you feel over another person's suffering. Look for that tender sorrow that you feel for someone (an orphan, a battered mother, a prisoner of conscience) in distress.
Then craft your letter so that you capture that pity and evoke it in your donors through the written word. Fundraising letters, as Ken Burnett so well observed, differ from sales letters in one vital way: buyers and sellers have a relationship of shared commercial interest, but donors and fundraisers enjoy a relationship of shared conviction.
One way to advance that shared conviction is to supervise your tear ducts and your oesophagus. When searching for a profitable fundraising letter theme, ask yourself this: "What is it about this problem that makes me cry or (if I am a man) puts a lump in my throat?" When you find it, describe it to your donor in a way that moves their emotions, which moves them to donate. Twenty years from now, they might not recall what you write today, but you never know.
© 2006 Sharpe Copy Inc. You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the "About the Author" message).
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alan Sharpe is a professional fundraising letter writer, instructor, coach, author and newsletter publisher who helps non-profit organizations to raise funds, build relationships and retain loyal donors using cost-effective, compelling, creative fundraising letters. Sign up for free weekly tips like this at http://www.RaiserSharpe.com
