Fundraising Appeal Letter

Raising funds for a particular cause is not an easy task. It might look simple, but asking people to shell out some money from their pockets, and get nothing in return, except for blessings is difficult to convince. People would spend money to buy goods or win luxuries, but convincing them to spend money for someone else is difficult. The volunteers working with different charitable trusts, or volunteering for different charity purposes, thus write fundraising appeal letters to raise funds for different causes. These causes help in the welfare of the needy in the society. The charitable organizations or NGO's organize different causes from time to time. They try to tackle various issues of the society, and do their bit to help others.

• Writing a fundraising appeal letter is no less than a marketing letter. Even here, one party convinces the other. Thus, the marketing concept has to be applied to this letter as well. Before writing the letter, the organization's volunteers need to sit down, and discuss what the letter will include, how much money would they request from the reader, what emotional or visual cures will be used, etc. After deciding on this, draft the appeal letter.

• The first paragraph of the letter will give a quick synopsis of your purpose of writing the letter, and present the picture to the reader. The letter will be approximately a page long, and not more than 3-4 paragraphs. Thus, the writer has to communicate and convince within this.

• The second paragraph will speak about the cause, the outcomes of the cause, your organization, and how you aim to use the funds collected. This is very important. The reader will want to know where the money would go, and who would benefit from it. To make this appeal stronger, send some pictures, testimonials, etc. along with the letter. To further make your appeal more attractive, try offering some benefits to the donor as well. For example, you can ask him/her, to purchase something, and the benefits from the purchase would go to the funds for the cause. You can also make them avail of certain tax benefits.

• The last paragraph will summarize your letter. In this paragraph, again mention the amount you expect, the cause, and the mode of payment. Try giving pre-stamped postal envelopes to the donor to send in their checks or Demand Drafts. This would make it simpler for the donor, and thus help you get good donations. Since you provide the envelope, the donor will only need to put in a check, and post it. This reduces his/her effort and saves time.

The sample fundraising appeal letter given below will help you write a letter and successfully raise funds for your cause.

13th October, 2011
Jim Parx,
Manager,
Christ Charity Trust (CCT),
Denver Society,
California - 5478.
Ph: 444 587945
Email: jim@cct.com

To,
The Manager,
Mr. Michael Polo,
Pinnacle Group of Companies,
California - 54777

Re: Appeal to donate for 'Bring a Smile' cause of CCT

Dear. Mr. Polo,

I am Jim Parx, the Manager of CCT. We have been in operation since 1999, and since then we have been working for various causes and organizing various camps and events. This year we plan to raise funds for mentally challenged children, and thus we have organized an exhibition for sale of handicrafts. It is my appeal to you to donate generously towards this cause.

The handicrafts are made by these children, and some other renowned artisans will also join the exhibition to offer you more variety. The returns from the sale of the handicrafts made by the children will go directly to the children, and other artisans have promised to give 10% of every sale to the children. It is my humble appeal that you donate towards this cause, and help us organize this cause. We promise you that we would mention the name of your organization, and print the logo on every ad campaign that we carry out to promote the event.

The funds will be used to build a shelter and medical facility for these children. Kindly donate to this cause and help CCT, organize this event successfully.

Looking forward to get a positive response soon.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Jim Parx,
Christ Charity Trust.

Referring to the sample fundraising appeal letter given above you can write winning fundraising letters for your organization. Also, you can look for Property Tax Appeal Letter and Scholarship Appeal Letter for more cover letters.