A Fundraising Primer for Cash-strapped Non-Profits

Fundraising: Without it No non-profit can survive.

But unless you've learned to ask effectively, it can be a long uphill battle.

You know your cause is important - if it wasn't, you wouldn't be working for it - but how can you convey that importance to business owners and individuals, so that they'll choose your cause over dozens of others when allocating their charitable spending?

Because it is a matter of choosing. No business or individual could possibly say yes to every appeal. The fact is, you have competition for every charitable dollar.

Your job, then, is to show all those potential donors why the cause you work for is the most important, and to show them that you are to be trusted to spend their money where it will do the most to support that cause.

But remember, logic is not enough. You have to touch their hearts.

Most non-profits could raise a lot more money if they started with one simple truth.

What is that truth? Simply this: "If you are to get, you have to give something in return."

In the case of fundraising, you have to give emotional fulfillment. But too often, fundraisers simply send a letter saying "We need..." without first showing the donors how fantastic they're going to feel when they give.

If you're to get the funding you need, your appeal has to do three things:

1. Tune in to the emotions that cause people to give

2. Subtly let them know that their donation will make them feel good

3. Ask for the donation in the proper manner

Yes you can do it!

If you're not a writer, and you haven't studied the psychology of fundraising, this can seem like an impossible task, but it isn't.

In fact, once you understand the steps you need to take before you write, what to include in your appeal letter, and the steps to take when the donations come in, you'll probably be so excited about your success that you'll want to keep right on writing.

Those steps, along with some non-writing fundraising ideas, are outlined for you in my new Fundraising Primer- the e-book I wrote so you could become a successful "Fundraising do-it-yourselfer."

Wouldn't it be better to hire a copywriter who knows how to write fundraising copy?

Sure it would, but many small non-profits can't afford to hire a good copywriter, and the cheap ones could cost more than they earn.

It's a catch-22 - The less money they have, the more help they need with writing a great appeal letter. If your organization is in that situation right now, the Fundraising Primer is exactly what you need.

Because the truth is, the more you need money, the less you can afford to mail a letter that won't get a good response.

The Fundraising Primer will show you:

How to get started - how to get inside your potential donor's heads and recognize the emotions that prompt them to give.

How to organize your thoughts and focus on what's most important to your donors.

What to include in your letter

How to keep your readers interested in your story

Then it will show you what to do to keep your first donors while you add new ones.
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Hello, Marte,
Just writing to say that I just downloaded your fundraising primer. I am usually pretty disappointed in these things. They don't have much information for anyone with a bit of common sense. However, I was very pleased with the information in your primer. Lots of good tips and plenty of ideas that I can use. Well worth the small price. Thank you!!

T. Lynch
Paradise, CA
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The Fundraising Primer is short and to the point - bringing you only what you need to get started writing for your cause.

You may not have the time right now to learn and study all the finer points of fundraising - you need to get a letter in the mail. Later, if you decide you want to learn more, seek out the authors I've included in my recommended reading list.

The monetary cost of this report is less than 21 postage stamps - stamps you could waste if your letter misses the mark.

Can you afford NOT to read it?