How To: 4 Sample Fundraising Letters

Sample Fundraising Letter #1

 Dear Uncle Steve,

I am writing to ask for your help. You won't believe what I have gone and gotten myself into this time. I am going to run the Surf City USA Marathon for Free Wheelchair Mission. My body is already in nervous shock from the anticipation!

Your help would be greatly appreciated. No, I don't expect you to walk along side of me - so you can breathe that sigh of relief! But a donation to Free Wheelchair Mission in order to sponsor me in the race would be wonderful!

If you can help, you can go online right now and donate to my personal website at [personalized link here], or you can make a check payable to Free Wheelchair Mission and return it to me. Then you can sit back with your lemonade on Superbowl Sunday and watch the game, while I am out there running 26.2 miles across Huntington Beach! Thank you so much!

Your niece,

Nicole

Sample Fundraising Letter #2

Date

Dear Name of potential donor,

On February 5, 2012, I will join hundreds of others to help lift people off of the ground and into a wheelchair by running in the Run for Mobility half marathon/full marathon/1 mile.  By making a pledge on my behalf, you are supporting the mission of Free Wheelchair Mission to provide dignity, mobility, and hope to those struggling with physical disabilities in developing countries.

Give details - Tell your story: I have a personal stake in this particular event. I have several friends and family who are unable to walk, and their lives are still full and productive because they have access to a wheelchair. Here in the US most people who need mobility aids are able to access them – this isn’t the case in developing countries. Simple, everyday tasks like cooking, going to the restroom, or even just moving from a bedroom to the living room are huge tasks when you can’t walk. People are forced to drag themselves across the floor, or rely on a family member to physically carry them around to do these tasks. I know how important having a wheelchair is to my family members, and how vital it is for people in similar situations.

My goal is to raise at least specify dollar amount this year. Since each wheelchair only costs $63.94, that means I will be able to transform X number of lives when I reach my personal goal! Please help me reach that goal with your donation, which is completely tax deductible. If you wish, you may mail all or part of your payment amount today in the self-addressed stamped envelope enclosed with this letter, or visit my website at www.fwm.kintera.org/run2012/[your personal URL] or by going to www.runformobility.org, clicking on “Sponsor a Fundraiser”, and then entering my name.

Please make your checks payable to Free Wheelchair Mission, with the words “Run for Mobility – [my name]” on the memo line. My personal deadline to reach my goal is deadline date. Following the event, I will send out a brief recap of the race and the outcomes of my fundraising efforts to all my sponsors.

Thank you in advance for your support. Please call me if you have any questions or comments about the Run for Mobility. I can be reached at phone number.

Sincerely,
Your name

Sample Fundraising Letter #3

Dear friends and family,

I have decided to take on the challenge of Running for Mobility for Free Wheelchair Mission. I will be running the Surf City USA marathon on February 5, 2012 in Huntington Beach, CA. I’m not only running for the glory – I’m running in order to provide wheelchairs to people in need around the world. My goal is to raise $640 – enough to personally help 10 individuals in another country by giving them a wheelchair that they need.

 

The need for wheelchairs is huge – over 100 million people around the world need a wheelchair but don’t have one. Your support will help Free Wheelchair Mission continue their mission of transforming lives around the world, and will help motivate me during the race and help me reach my fundraising goal!

Please be generous. Thanks so much for your support!

To donate to my page, click here: http://fwm.kintera.org/run2012/[yourURL]

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rally-to-Restore-Sanity-SanFrancisco/147882631915583?v=app_4949752878&ref=ts</p>

To learn more about the event, click here: http://www.runformobility.org

 

To learn more about Free Wheelchair Mission, click here: www.freewheelchairmission.org

Sample Fundraising Letter #4

Dear [Name],

Many of you know how important sports and fitness are to me. Living a healthy, active lifestyle is something that is easily taken for granted. I have taken on the challenge of training for [Event Name]. To make my race more meaningful, I am raising money for Free Wheelchair Mission – an international 501c3 non‐profit organization that provides wheelchairs to people in need around the world. By providing a simple wheelchair, they are able to transform the lives of individuals, families, and communities through the gift of mobility.

There are over 100 million people around the world who are disabled and need a wheelchair, but cannot afford one. 80% of these people live in developing countries. Not having a wheelchair means that the individual is unable to attend school, get a job, or participate in their communities. They are completely dependent on family members or friends to carry them out of the house and into the world. Once they become adults, these individuals will be too big to be carried, and end up staying inside their homes for years. These people simply need a means to be independent and mobile, and they will be able to rejoin society on their own terms. Our simple gift of a wheelchair provides these things any more to recipients. Free Wheelchair Mission has been working for the past 10 years to manufacture, ship, and deliver our specially designed durable wheelchair to these forgotten people around the world. Still, FWM needs your help in order to continue their mission.

By donating to my fundraising efforts, you are helping me and FWM to change lives, one wheelchair at a time. Together, we can provide the tool these people need in order to live an independent, productive, and fulfilled lives. I have decided to make my miles matter by helping to make an impact on lives around the world. Please become a part of my mission by making a donation through my web site link below. Together, we can give the gift of mobility and lift lives around the world.

[http:/fwm.kintera.org/run2012/your URL]
Thank you for your support,

[Your Name]

Happy fundraising!

How To: 5 Components of a Fundraising Letter

Check out this awesome article called "5 Components of a Well-Written Fundraising Letter", written by Jim Berigan that takes you through, step by step, the components of an effective fundraising letter. All you need to do is change the focus to Free Wheelchair Mission, and you're set!

"One of the most important tools available to any leader of a non profit organization is the fundraising letter. With a finely-crafted missive, the leader will be able to clarify the mission, excite the audience, and deliver on the stated need.

However, getting the letter to the point where it is “finely-crafted” is the hard part. I believe there are five key components that should be implemented to give your letter a much better chance of hitting its mark.

Before you begin writing, I recommend that you jot down a quick outline. This will help you plot your individual points, provide your supporting evidence, and generally keep you on track.

The outline should be broken down into five sections. These are: attention, interest, desire, conviction, and close. By following these five “guideposts” you are taking your reader on a directed journey, exactly where you want him to go. And fortunately, since this progression makes rhetorical sense, the reader will actually be happy to go along for this ride, as opposed to a letter that is all over the place and never really gets to the point.

Let’s break down each of the sections.

1. Attention

First, there is “ATTENTION”. This is where you really grab your readers. Give them something to chew on right away. Most of us read thousands of words each day, so the competition for our readers’ attention is great. Don’t mess around with long winded introductions- get right to the point. Use words and word-pictures that have real impact with the readers. In the case of school fundraising, I like to focus on the benefits to the children.

Let’s say, for instance, you were writing a letter in hopes of raising enough money to subsidize a trip to Washington D.C. for the eighth grade. I would start by writing:

Dear Parents, Our school has the amazing opportunity to provide your child with an incredible hands-on learning experience, right in our nation’s capital. For four days and three nights, our students will be in the epicenter of our executive, legislative, and judicial activity. With behind the scenes tours, meetings with our local law-makers, and admission to some of the most significant historical sites in our country, your child will have the experience of his or her life.

Ok, there’s the first paragraph. We were aiming for grabbing their attention, and I think we have it. We emphasized the benefits to their children and even touched on a bit of patriotism!

2. Interest

Next, we come to “INTEREST”. This is where we expand a little bit more on what we wrote in the “attention” paragraph. The goal is to raise your readers’ interest by more specifically highlighting the benefits and features of the event. By the end of this section, your reader should really be primed to hear your pitch.

To continue with the sample letter:

All year long, we have been studying how bills become laws, how our government operates, and how our democracy was created. By planning this trip to Washington D.C., we will be able to take this theoretical knowledge and breathe life into it for our students. Instead of just reading about the Library of Congress, we’re going to go there! Rather than just watching CSPAN, we are going to enter the U.S. Capitol and observe Congress actually in session! What better way is there to really learn about our country than to see it up close and in person?

3. Desire

All right, this is where we start to really sell, sell, sell. Your job in this section is to place such a strong desire for this experience in the hearts of your readers that they’ll do just about anything to make the goal a reality. To accomplish this, you only need to remind them of the idealistic things they already hold dear. Do this with the right stroke, and you’ve got them.

As parents, we know you always want the best for your children. You want their schools to be first rate and be able to provide them with only the finest instruction and guidance. We at Al Gore Middle School share this desire, right along with you. For years, the eighth grade has been making this annual journey to Washington D.C. And, year after year, we have witnessed first- hand how this experience changes lives for the better. This is truly a monumental event for our young people.

4. Conviction

So far, we have excited our readers, we’ve got them genuinely interested in our cause, and we’ve done all we can to convince them that they, too, want what we want. Now it’s time to prepare them for the challenges that stand in our way and get them to commit themselves to the hard work that will certainly follow on our way to the goal. This is called “CONVICTION”.

But getting to Washington D.C. is never easy. Moving an entire grade of children is expensive and logistically difficult. Making this dream a reality is a daunting task, but it is also one that many parents before us have successfully undertaken.

Through our research, we have determined that this trip costs $400 total per child. This includes everything- transportation, lodging, food, and admission to all the sites. The only thing beyond this is spending money, which you and your child can determine privately.

$400 is a lot of money. We understand that this can be a burden to many. Therefore, we have a goal to help subsidize this amount by at least 50% per student. Between now and the time we leave for Washington, we plan to hold several mini-fundraisers within the community.

Your involvement with these fundraisers is vital. We need every parent of an eighth grader to volunteer his or her time to help us reach this overall target. This will mean planning meetings, committee meetings, volunteer recruiting, organizing, decorating, etc. This is a significant commitment.

However, when we remember why we are doing this, we know that in the long run, all the time and energy will be worth it for our children.

5. Close

At this point, our hope is that parents are ready for the fight. They believe in the cause and are prepared to enter into battle. Now, they just need to know specifically what is being asked of them. In each school’s case, this might be different, but it is crucial to work in an effective call to action. And that comes in the “CLOSE”.

On Tuesday November 5 at 6:30pm, we are holding an organizational meeting in our school auditorium. We will be talking a lot about the upcoming trip, as well as how we plan to pay for it. We sincerely ask that at least one parent from each family come to this gathering. If you can not attend, we ask that you contact our school office, so we can get you all the pertinent information.

Thank you for your consideration of this journey, and we can’t wait to give your child the memories and experiences that will help shape the rest of their lives. See you at the meeting!

And that’s it. Now, please remember that I completely fabricated this above scenario, so some of the details may not make sense, but I wanted to illustrate the path a persuasive fundraising letter should take. Start with getting your readers’ attention, heighten their interest, stir their desire, strengthen their conviction, and close the deal with a call to action.

Plug your own specific information into this plan, and you’ll be well on your way to sending out a fundraising letter that will produce results!"

Happy fundraising!

Full article link: http://stepbystepfundraising.com/5-components-of-a-well-written-fundraising-letter/