How to Write Successful Fundraising Letters, with CD 2nd Edition
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Editorial Reviews
From the Back Cover
Your Guide to Writing Fundraising Letters That Will Get Results!
"This book helps us move from successful direct mail to the next mass appeal mediumthe Internet. The final chapter is a must for all who are contemplating Internet appeals."
Eugene R. Tempel, executive director, The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University
"Once again Mal Warwick has shown why he is the 'guru of direct marketing.' Readersof the second edition of How to Write Successful Fundraising Letters will find themselves returning to its pages again andagain to enhance and reposition their own fundraising efforts."
Judith E. Nichols, author, Pinpointing Affluence in the 21st Century, and senior vice president, Covenant House International
"Mal Warwick is a true fundraising guru and a source of indispensable knowledge. Fundraisers who omit reading the second edition of Mal's classic, How to Write Successful Fundraising Letters, do so at their own peril."
Per Stenbeck, international fundraising director, UNICEF
"Mal has done it again! He's linked all the attributes of the Internet and e-mail to existing fundraising methods."
James M. Greenfield, author and editor, The Nonprofit Handbook: Fundraising, Third Edition
"Mal Warwick has taken a great book, already a classic in the field, and made it even better. How to Write Successful Fundraising Letters is indispensable for any fundraiser who communicates with donors by mail or online. You'll keep it on your desk and refer to it again and again."
Tan Chee Koon, executive director, National Volunteer and Philanthropy Center, Singapore
"Fundraisers who use the mail to raise money have long turned to Mal Warwick's classic, How to Write Successful Fundraising Letters. Now, those who are interested in using the web to increase donations and decrease costs should also read this new edition of Mal Warwick's book.The recommendations are practical, intuitive, and can be easily applied to help reach fundraising goals."
Lauren Kass Harnishfeger, vice president, Individual and Institutional Giving, National Park Foundation
"Any organization will benefit from Warwick's vast experience, critical insights, and copious examples. I couldn't put the book down."Simone P. Joyaux, ACFRE, Joyaux Associates
About the Author
Mal Warwick, consultant, author, and public speaker, is the founder of Mal Warwick Associates and three related companies that provide a wide range of fundraising and marketing services to nonprofitclients throughout North America. Warwick has written or edited 18 books including Revolution in the Mailbox, The Five Strategiesfor Fundraising Success, and Fundraising on the Internet. He teaches fundraising throughout the world and chairs the Global Resource Alliance, which promotes civil society worldwide. Find more information on Mal and his books at www.malwarwick.com and www.josseybass.com/go/warwick.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
How to Write Successful Fundraising Letters (w/CD)
By Mal WarwickJossey-Bass
Copyright © 2008 Mal WarwickAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-7879-9908-7
Chapter One
Why People Respond to Fundraising LettersIT'S DOWNRIGHT UNNATURAL. Your fundraising letter must persuade the recipient to take an action that much of humanity thinks peculiar: to give money away.
To accomplish this seemingly unlikely objective, your appeal needs to be built on the psychology of giving. Forget your organization's needs. Instead, focus on the needs, the desires, and the concerns of the people you're writing to. Your job is to motivate them.
Commercial direct marketers frequently say that there are five great motivators that explain response: fear, exclusivity, guilt, greed, and anger. But I believe the truth is much more complex: that there are at least two dozen reasons people might respond to your fundraising letter. Any one of the twenty-four might suggest a theme or hook for your letter, and it's likely that several of these reasons help motivate each gift.
1. People send money because you ask them to
Public opinion surveys and other research repeatedly confirm this most basic fact of donor motivation. "I was asked" is the most frequently cited reason for giving. And the research confirms that donors want to be asked. Focus group research also reveals that donors typically underestimate the number of appeals they receive from the organizations they support. These facts help explain why responsive donors are repeatedly asked for additional gifts in nearly every successful direct mail fundraising program. When you write an appeal, keep these realities in mind. Don't allow your reticence about asking for money make you sound apologetic in your letter.
2. People send money because they have money available to give away
The overwhelming majority of individual gifts to nonprofit organizations and institutions are small contributions made from disposable (or discretionary) income. This is the money left over in the family checking account after the month's mortgage, taxes, insurance, credit cards, and grocery bills have been paid. Unless you're appealing for a major gift, a bequest, or a multiyear pledge, your target is this modest pool of available money.
For most families, dependent on a year-round stream of wage or salary income, the pool of disposable income is replenished every two weeks or every month. That's why most organizations appeal frequently and for small gifts. If your appeal is persuasive, your organization may join the ranks of that select group of nonprofits that receive gifts from a donor's household in a given month. If you're less than persuasive or if competing charities have stronger arguments-or if the family just doesn't have money to spare that month-you won't get a gift.
For example, if you write me a letter seeking a charitable gift, you may succeed in tapping into the $100 or $200 I'll probably have "left over" for charity during the month your letter arrives. If your appeal is persuasive, I might send you $25 or $50-$100 tops-because I decide to add you to the short list of nonprofits I'll support that month.
Now you may have the mistaken impression that as a businessman, a snappy dresser, and an all-around generous fellow, I have a lot of money. You may even be aware I've occasionally made much larger gifts to local charities. But you're unlikely to receive more than $50 because that's all I have available right now. Those few larger gifts I gave didn't come from my disposable income stream. They came from other sources (such as an investment windfall, a tax refund, or an inheritance) and required a lot of planning on my part.
3. People send money because they're in the habit of sending money by mail
Charity is habit forming; giving by mail is a special variety of this benign affliction. When I became involved in direct mail fundraising in the late 1970s, I was told that only about one in four adult Americans was mail responsive-that is, susceptible to offers or appeals by mail. By the turn of the century, according to the Simmons Market Research Bureau, two out of every three adults were buying goods or services by mail or phone every year. Many purchases involved telemarketing-but there's no doubt Americans are now more mail responsive.
Surveys also reflect the growing importance of direct mail appeals in the fundraising process. Research shows that fundraising letters are the top source of new gifts to charity in America.
4. People send money because they support organizations like yours
Your donors aren't yours alone, no matter what you think. Because they have special interests, hobbies, and distinctive beliefs, they may support several similar organizations. A dog owner, for example, may contribute to half a dozen organizations that have some connection to dogs: a humane society, an animal rights group, an organization that trains Seeing Eye dogs, a wildlife protection group. A person who sees himself as an environmentalist might be found on the membership rolls of five or six ecology-related groups: one dedicated to land conservation, another to protecting the wilderness, a third to saving endangered species or the rain forest, and so on. There are patterns in people's lives. Your appeal is most likely to bear fruit when it fits squarely into one of those patterns.
5. People send money because their gifts will make a difference
Donors want to be convinced that their investment in your enterprise-their charitable gifts-will achieve some worthy aim. That's why so many donors express concern about high fundraising and administrative costs. It's also why successful appeals for funds often quantify the impact of a gift: $35 to buy a school uniform, $40 for a stethoscope, $7 to feed a child for a day. Donors want to feel good about their gifts.
Your donors are striving to be effective human beings. You help them by demonstrating just how effective they really are.
6. People send money because gifts will accomplish something right now
Urgency is a necessary element in a fundraising letter. Implicitly or explicitly, every successful appeal has a deadline: the end of the year, the opening of the school, the deadline for the matching grant, the limited pressrun on the book available as a premium. But the strong attraction in circumstances such as these is best illustrated when no such urgent conditions apply. If the money I send you this week won't make a difference right away, shouldn't I send money to some other charity that has asked for my support and urgently needs it?
7. People send money because you recognize them for their gifts
You appeal to donors' egos-or to their desire to heighten their public image-when you offer to recognize their gifts in an open and tangible way: a listing in your newsletter; a plaque, certificate, lapel pin, or house sign; a screen credit in a video production; a press release. If your fundraising program can provide appropriate and tasteful recognition, you're likely to boost response to your appeals by highlighting the opportunities for recognition in your letter or newsletter. Even if donors choose not to be listed in print or mentioned in public, they may be gratified to learn that you value their contributions enough to make the offer.
8. People send money because you give them something tangible in return
Premiums come in all sizes, shapes, and flavors: bumper strips, gold tie tacks, coffee-table books, membership cards, even (in one case I know) a pint of ice cream.
Sometimes premiums (such as name stickers or bookmarks) are enclosed with the appeal; these so-called front-end premiums (or freemiums) boost response more often than not and are frequently cost effective, at least in the short run. In other cases, back-end premiums are promised in an appeal "as a token of our deep appreciation" when donors respond by sending gifts of at least a certain amount. Either way, premiums appeal to the innate acquisitiveness that persists in the human race.
9. People send money because you enable them to "do something" about a critical problem, if only to protest or take a stand
Today we are bombarded by information about the world's problems through a wide variety of channels. Although we may isolate ourselves inside triple-locked homes, build walls around suburbs, and post guards at gateposts, we can't escape knowing about misery, injustice, and wasted human potential. Often we feel powerless in the face of this grim reality. Charity offers us a way to respond-by helping to heal the sick or balm troubled souls, imprint our values on a new generation, or feed the hungry. Your appeal will trigger a gift if it brings to life the feelings that move us to act, even knowing that action is never enough.
If you offer hope in a world drowning in troubles, your donors will seize it like the life jacket it really is.
10. People send money because you give them a chance to associate with a famous or worthy person
There are numerous ways that the identity, personality, or achievements of an individual might be highlighted in a fundraising appeal. For example, that person may be the signer of the letter, the organization's founder or executive director, the honorary chair of a fundraising drive, a patron saint, a political candidate, an honoree at a special event-or simply one of the organization's members or clients. If the signer's character or accomplishments evoke admiration or even simply a past personal connection, your donors may be moved to send gifts in response. The opportunity to associate with someone who is well known or highly esteemed may offer donors a way to affirm their noblest inclinations-or compensate for what they believe to be their shortcomings.
11. People send money because you allow them to get back at the corrupt or the unjust
There are too few outlets for the anger and frustration we feel on witnessing injustice and corruption in society. Both our moral sense and the secular law hold most of us in check, preventing expressions of violence or vocal fury that might allow us to let off steam. For many, contributing to nonprofit causes or institutions is a socially acceptable way to strike back. Whether your organization is a public interest group committed to fighting corruption in government or a religious charity devoted to revealing divine justice, it may help donors channel their most sordid feelings into a demonstration of their best instincts.
12. People send money because you give them the opportunity to "belong"-as a member, friend, or supporter-and thus you help them fight loneliness
Your most fundamental task as a fundraiser is to build relationships with your donors. That's why so many organizations use membership programs, giving clubs, and monthly gift societies. The process of solicitation itself can help build healthy relationships. Shut-ins, for example, or elderly people with distant family and few friends may eagerly anticipate the letters you send. Most of us are social animals, forever seeking companionship.
13. People send money because you enable them to offer their opinions
The act of sending a gift to some nonprofit organizations might itself constitute a way to speak out. Consider, for example, the American Civil Liberties Union or the Republican National Committee or the Human Rights Campaign; support for these groups makes an obvious statement about a donor's views. But almost any charity can offer donors an opportunity to state an opinion by including in an appeal an involvement device such as a membership survey, a petition, or a greeting card that might later be sent to a friend or family member. Although most donors may ignore the chance to offer suggestions, they may regard the invitation to do so as a strong sign of your respect and concern for them.
14. People send money because you provide them with access to inside information
Even if your organization or agency isn't an institution of higher education or a research foundation, you still hold knowledge many donors crave. Nonprofit organizations are often on the front lines of everyday, hands-on research, gathering important data day after day from clients, visitors, or program participants. Their staff members are likely to be specialists, and often experts, in their fields.
Every nonprofit possesses information that is not widely known to the public and that donors may perceive as valuable. A loyal supporter may be vitally interested in the health and well-being of your executive director (who was ill lately), the progress of a project you launched last year (after a spectacular start), or what your field staff learned last month (three months after the hurricane).
Disseminating inside information, which is intrinsically valuable and thus constitutes a gift from you, also helps build strong fundraising relationships by involving your donors in the intimate details of your organization.
15. People send money because you help them learn about a complex and interesting problem or issue
In most advanced industrial nations, the citizens think it is largely government's responsibility to provide funding for education, health care, and the arts. In contrast, the traditional American response has been to meet important needs such as these principally through private, voluntary action. Nonprofit organizations in the United States tackle issues or problems that society otherwise ignores or undervalues. Don't think just of the private schools and colleges, nonprofit hospitals, museums, and symphony orchestras. Think about Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Disabled American Veterans, Planned Parenthood, the Nature Conservancy, and the hundreds of thousands of other organizations like them that are far less well known. Often these organizations are on the front lines of research or public debate on the most challenging, the most controversial, the most engaging issues. If that's true of your organization, the emphasis you place in your appeal on your special knowledge may help motivate donors to give.
Your donors may even perceive the appeal itself as a benefit. As research frequently reveals, donors regard the letters they receive from charities as a source of special knowledge. I believe that helps explain why long letters containing hard facts and intriguing ideas often outpull more emotional appeals.
16. People send money because you help them preserve their worldview by validating cherished values and beliefs
The very act of giving affirms a donor's dedication to a charity's worthy aims. Donors support your organization's work because you act on their behalf, pursuing your mission with time and effort they could never bring to bear themselves. In this passionate pursuit, you act out their values and beliefs-the deep-seated convictions that lead them to join in your mission. But you must constantly remind them of the connection.
If your organization's mission is congruent with widely shared values and beliefs-a commitment to piety, for example, or saving dolphins or promoting efficiency in government-you face an obvious marketing opportunity. But if your nonprofit is dedicated to an unpopular cause, such as prisoners' rights, you possess a similar (if unenviable) advantage: for that small number of donors willing to take a stand on an issue that others reject, the values and beliefs that make the act of giving a form of personal affirmation suggest to the fundraiser a language both may speak.
17. People send money because you allow them to gain personal connections with other individuals who are passionately involved in some meaningful dimension of life
A charity is an intentional community of sorts-a cooperative venture, an institutional expression of a shared creed or common hopes. Your job as a fundraiser is to strengthen the bonds that tie your community together. Your greatest asset may be the heroic members of your field staff, who daily risk their lives to right the world's wrongs, or simply a particular person within your community whom donors may regard as an inspiring example: a selfless, dedicated staff member; a passionately committed trustee; a model client or beloved beneficiary of your work. If you bring such people to life through your fundraising appeals, you enable your donors to live vicariously through them-and that can be a meaningful and rewarding experience for donors, as well as profitable for your organization.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from How to Write Successful Fundraising Letters (w/CD)by Mal Warwick Copyright © 2008 by Mal Warwick. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Product details
- Publisher : Jossey-Bass; 2nd edition (March 28, 2008)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 336 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0787999083
- ISBN-13 : 978-0787999087
- Item Weight : 2.36 pounds
- Dimensions : 8.48 x 1.03 x 10.87 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,852,487 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #516 in Business Communication
- #1,048 in Philanthropy & Charity (Books)
- #1,595 in Creative Writing & Composition
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About the author

Mal Warwick began writing his blog, Mal Warwick on Books, in January 2010. He is a member of the National Book Critics Circle and the Northern California Book Reviewers and serves on the board of directors of the Bay Area Book Festival. He is also a member of the Author’s Guild and has been a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America since the 1970s.
Mal’s most recent book is Hell on Earth: What We Can Learn from Dystopian Fiction (July 2017). He is the author, co-author, or editor of 20 other books, including The Business Solution to Poverty: Designing Products and Services for Three Billion New Customers and the best-selling fundraising text, How to Write Successful Fundraising Appeals, Third Edition.
Mal is a principal in two businesses: a fundraising agency for nonprofits named Mal Warwick Donordigital, which he founded in 1979, and the One World Play Project, manufacturers of a virtually indestructible soccer ball that benefits more than 50 million children in 176 countries. The One World Play Project is a B Corporation and a California Benefit Corporation. Mal serves on the board of directors.
For three decades—the 1980s, 90s, and 00s—Mal focused on the nonprofit sector as an author, consultant, and public speaker on marketing and fundraising for nonprofit organizations and on the private sector as an advocate for socially and environmentally responsible business policies and practices. He is the founder of Mal Warwick Donordigital, which maintains offices in Berkeley, California and Washington, DC. The firm has served nonprofit organizations nationwide since 1979. MWD is a Founding B Corporation and a California Benefit Corporation and is now employee-owned. Mal remains as chair of the board.
A serial entrepreneur, Mal has been active in promoting social and environmental responsibility in the business community nationwide for more than two decades. He is the co-author of Values-Driven Business: How to Change the World, Make Money, and Have Fun with Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s. Along with Cohen and others, Mal was a co-founder of Business for Social Responsibility in 1992 and served on its board during its inaugural year. In 2001, after more than a decade as an active member of Social Venture Network, he began a six-year stretch (2001-7) on its board, serving as Chair for four years. He also was a member of the Founding Advisory Board of the Center for Responsible Business at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2002-3.
Among the hundreds of nonprofits Mal and his colleagues served over the years are many of the nation’s largest and most distinguished charities as well as six Democratic Presidential candidates and scores of small, local, and regional organizations. Collectively, Mal and his associates have been responsible for raising more than one billion dollars in the form of small gifts, all of them from individuals.
From 1965 to 1969, Mal was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Michigan.
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Little did I know, the experience of reading this book - and teaching the skills to an entry-level colleague - would lead to major improvements in my own writing. My colleague and I both became Warwick's students. We read this book backwards and forwards, and pulled it off the shelf every few months. Excellent copy emerged. Acting like an in-house direct marketing agency serving nine separate annual funds, we cranked out dozens of letters - helping to account for a 90% expansion in the pool of donors over a four-year period.
If you read one book about direct mail, let it be this one. As a bonus, the author's brisk, witty style sings out from the pages. Warwick makes the reader really *feel* what he has to say. The message is, do as he does.
Claudia Strasbaugh
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Spunti interessanti sull'approccio da avere, su come considerare il donatore e sugli errori da non commettere.



