Easy Church Fundraisers
When it comes to
easy church fundraisers, there are numerous options.
Candles is an obvious choice since a lot of churches burn
candles themselves during their services. Candles are not
difficult to sell these days as they are used to create a
warm environment, or a relaxing atmosphere, depending on
the fragrance used, and are no longer just for
emergencies when the power fails.
Your choice of fundraiser depends of course
on your purpose. Are you raising funds purely to provide items
for your church, or are you also trying to raise awareness in
your community? Would a car wash raise more awareness? Do you
have members who could wash cars, or do you have an older
congregation that would find this difficult?
What about holding
a craft fair, with tables available to the community for
a small fee? To organize this you wouldn't necessarily
have to have items to sell for your church even, you
could rent out all of your tables, and just host the
event. You could serve refreshments, or snacks, if you
are able to cater them.
There are many options
for easy church fundraisers, so pick one that the
majority of you are comfortable with, and have fun. You
may need to write some letters to hepl your fundraising
campaign, so take a look at the following
article.
Successful
Non-for-Profit Fundraising Letters Share Eight
Qualities
by Alan
Sharpe
You'll be
encouraged to know that the art of writing effective
fundraising letters can be learned. I learned it. So can
you.
Successful
fundraising letters share a number of things in common.
Once you know what these things are, your letter is
already half-way written. Before I share what they are,
let me explain what I mean by a successful or effective
fundraising letter. I mean a letter that generates a
gift, certainly, but I also mean a letter that builds
upon the relationship you have with your supporters. You
can easily craft a guilt-inducing letter that brings in a
donation for now but repels a donor forever. Successful
fundraising letters take the long-term approach, knowing
that donors need to be nurtured and educated over
time.
So here are some
things that all successful fundraising letters have in
common. Include as many of them as you can in each letter
you write.
1.
Is personal
Effective fundraising letters
sound as though they are written by a human being, not an
institution. Unlike grant proposals or special events, they are
person-to-person pieces of communication. With the exception of
a phone call, fundraising letters are the closest thing that
you can get to a face-to-face meeting with a
donor.
2.
Is conversational
Again, unlike grant proposals and
charity auctions, effective fundraising letters read like a
conversation (though admittedly a monologue) between two
people. Wouldn't you agree that good letters involve the
reader? Like you, I believe that effective letters involve the
supporter in the message whenever possible without sounding
contrived.
3.
Is addressed to a person by name
Don't send form letters to make
friends. Friends don't mail form letters. They send personal
letters. Letters addressed to their friends by name. My wife
never sends me a letter that begins, Dear Friend. Neither do my
friends. I realize that personalization costs more. But
personalization is the right thing to do. And it boosts
response, which is a bonus you get for doing the right
thing.
| These
days it is much easier to write personal
letters because of the technology of computers.
With mail merge software, it is possible to
send letters to hundreds of people addressed to
them individually, and this is what you want to
encourage a good response. Thank goodness the
days of handwriting letters is over, although
you may want to try this to see if you get an
even better response from your mailout. They
would have to be written by someone with
legible hand writing though!
~
Site Editor |
4.
Describes the case for support in human
terms
The best fundraising letters
translate institutional needs in terms of people, not programs,
remembering that people give to people to help people. So
instead of saying we need $10,000 for our general fund, a savvy
fundraising letter says our soup kitchen aims to help over 100
needy toddlers this Christmas Eve, and your gift today will
make that possible.
5.
Is donor-centred
The best-received fundraising
letters say you more than they say we. As Jeff Brooks, senior
creative director at the Domain Group, says, Donors are
interested in you because of what you help them do. You are
their agent in their personal mission to make the world better.
That should be the topic of all your fundraising. Not the inner
workings of the organization. Not the accomplishments of
notable others. Not the need for raised consciousness or
philosophical buy-in.
6.
Asks for the gift
I've read letters that were so
high-pressure that I kept my donation in my pocket. And I've
read others that were so vague that I wasn't sure if the sender
wanted my gift--or expected it. In the fundraising profession,
we say that if you don't ask, you won't receive. Which is a
true statement most of the time, because sometimes you'll
receive gifts unsolicited. But with a fundraising letter, you
need to ask for a donation, and more than once in the letter,
if you expect to cover your costs.
7.
Educates donors
The best fundraising letters
leave donors better-informed than they were before they opened
the envelope. They give donors more reasons to support your
cause by describing how your organization helps its
constituents, how a donor's past gifts are changing lives, or
in other ways reinforcing your case for
support.
8.
Appeals to the heart
Donors give to causes that win
their hearts and their minds, usually in that order. Good
appeal letters stir feelings of compassion, mercy, empathy,
altruism and more so that the donor identifies with your cause
on more than a cerebral level.
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- 2009 Practical-Fundraising.com
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