[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Top 10 "Appeal Letter" Lessons from Christian Nonprofits

Mike Buwalda, CSA Stewardship Connections Editor

What are other Christian nonprofits doing by mail to improve their ministry to donors? Below are 10 of the best ministry-tested ideas and tips from your peers from a recent CSA survey.

1. Test, Test, Test!

Experiment with different variables (e.g., timing, package design, ask levels) to determine which approaches best serve your ministry partners.

2. Phone Integration

Increase the impact of your mailings by adding a personal phone call. This call could vary from a telethon to a more personal approach with selected donors.

3. Recommended Reading

Read Mal Warwick’s The Mercifully Brief Real World Guide to Raising $1,000 Gifts by Mail for practical examples of how to improve your response rates even in off-peak times of the year.

4. Personal Stories

Use personal stories of how someone's life was changed by your ministry to touch hearts and give life to why you do what you do.

5. Input from Donors

Use your mailings to encourage your supporters to tell you what's on their minds. Use your reply card to ask for feedback on your ministry and prayer requests from your supporters. This not only builds better relationships with your ministry partners, but also gives you strategic help for your ministry.

6. Faithful Supporters

Everyone wants new donors, and that's an important goal. But experience has shown that investing your best energies and resources in building a base of loyal supporters is a wise path. Many ministries have discovered there is untapped hidden potential in their existing list of donors.

7. Evaluate Results

You invest a lot of money planning and executing a mailing. Take time to review the results, watch for trends, and adjust future mailings based on what your donors are telling you through their responses (or lack of response).

8. Year End

Because so many giving decisions are made at the end of the year, there is a huge opportunity for ministries to reconnect with supporters they haven't heard from in a while, as well as to challenge loyal partners to consider a higher level of support. Extra time in prayer and planning for November and December mailings is highly recommended.

9. New Year

Try a special campaign in January to renew support from donors. Some have been surprised by the response they received in the weeks following year-end appeals.

10. Internal writing, external production

Some have found it more effective for people intimately familiar with their organization to write their appeal letters because they have the passion and front-line exposure to the ministry. The production of the mailings, on the other hand, is another matter, and the efficiencies and experience of a vendor is cost-effective.

From Your Peers
Here is a sample of the actual responses CSA received in a recent survey that asked if Christian nonprofits were happy with the results of their mailing program.


We have vastly improved by going to an integrated marketing approach with our phonathon. Direct mail remains an important component but trends indicate that donors need more than one "touch" to be effective. We still expect to improve our margins more every year.

Harold P. Hazen
Vice President for University Advancement
Taylor University


Our mailings are doing well in most cases but you know the key—test, test, test. Segmentation and personalization is a key component for good results on your mailing.

Dave Bustraan
Mission India




We saw mixed results. A low point was only receiving a 1% response from our large November appeal letter and our high point was getting a 9% response from a special mailing we sent out in June. This special mailing incorporated the strategy laid out in Mal Warwick's book, "The Mercifully Brief Real World Guide to Raising $1,000 Gifts by Mail."
 
Steve Onnen
John Brown University



We were fairly pleased. We could always do better. Newsletters are disappointing but we do not expect them to generate funds. Our appeal letters did okay but then again we could do better. We use real life experiences from our children to get their attention. When you can put a personal story it tugs at their heart.

Bob Flournoy
Louisiana Methodist Children's Home



Our direct mail for July 2004 through June 2005 performed as projected. Within the year some mailings were astoundingly good. Three mailings to 27,000 donors responding at an average rate of 5% generated over $100,000 each. Others fell flat. I'm glad we had those good ones! One new mailing that was a surprise was the generally good response to an Asian New Year mailing, which came just after Christmas. We thought no one would give, since they just did their year-end giving, but it had a return on investment of 550%. By the way, we write and design all our mailings internally, but use an excellent direct mail vendor for production.

Ronald Nelson
Director of Mission Support
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Foundation



I was happy with the response to our mailings over the past 12 months because

  1. They brought in some money that we would probably not have received otherwise. Even with rather high costs for snail mail, I think that we came out well-ahead, including well-ahead in the cost of paying people to work up the materials, profile the donor base, etc.
  2. We received some written responses in addition to money, or occasionally in place of money. Some of the responses stated unhappiness about our organization or about the denomination of which we are a part. Such responses were not pleasant to read. However, they did tell us some things about our donors that we would have had to work at in other, probably harder, ways.

Anonymous by Request



Yes, we are happy with the results of our mailings. We averaged between an 8%-10% response. We even did one in August (traditionally not a good time). We have a loyal constituency.

J. Mark Horst
Director
Heralds of Hope, Inc.



It's been a mixed bag. One mailing in particular went extremely well and another went so-so. We continue to evaluate and look for more effective ways of communicating via direct mail.

Kevin Heyne
Spring Hill Camps


Since I am new here at Arab World Ministries (AWM), I really do not have first-hand knowledge of how specific direct mail projects have worked for the agency. [My predecessor] did inform me that they were very happy with the responses to the "end of year" mailing that was done last year. A great deal of my past experience, however, was in advertising and direct mail, so I have a pretty extensive background in direct mail methodology and results getting and measuring.

John Hart
Arab World Ministries



Yes, I have been happy. Some relate to particular needs at the time. There are some mailings that deal more with U.S. things that are not appropriate for me—The DEL key works well for those.

Gordon Sorensen
Baptist General Conference of Canada (BGC)
Stewardship Foundation



Yes and no. Unfortunately we had three lists we tested that all bombed. Our current donors are quite faithful, but in terms of new prospects, the lists we tried (Nora Lam, Alan Keyes, and Reagan Republicans of the New Millennium) did not pan out. I've been more than pleased with our faithful foundation of supporters, they are CFI. But we are working hard to find new supporters.

Vickie Koth
Christian Freedom International



I'm not happy because response as well as revenue has been down for most of my mailings. Fourth quarter has remained strong though. I think donors who have not given over the course of the year may still feel an obligation to give at year’s end.

Jeff Kolsch
Hospice of Hope, Romania


My initial response is that we've had some great success in one mailing and disappointment with the results of another.

Cory Raynham
ELIC



Yes—good communication and information regarding whatever issue I was concerned about.

Ann Jordan
Simpson University

Back to Best Practices

[an error occurred while processing this directive]