If you’re over a certain age, you may remember when everyone wrote letters all the time. Every day, the mailbox contained a handful of letters from friends and family.
Times have changed. You probably haven’t received a personal letter from a real person in a while. You’re a lot more likely to get a letter from a lawyer or someone else you’d rather not hear from.
The personal letter has all but died out — killed by email and other quicker, more convenient communication channels.
But the letter is still the powerhouse of fundraising. It lives on like a prehistoric throwback, because it still works.
It’s strange, but a letter that is:
- On letterhead
- Starts with a salutation
- Has a signature
- Has a P.S.
Try and replace the letter with some cool designed piece that’s easier to read, rich with photography, branded to the hilt — it’s unlikely to work.
That’s because most donors grew up on letters. Unlike you or me, a letter in the mailbox for them is still a sign of personal contact. Something joyful.
Depart from the conventions of the letter at your own peril!
It’s possible that when you and I are elderly and people our age are the majority of donors the letter won’t have the power it has now.
But until that day, stick with a letter.
Jeff Brooks has been serving the nonprofit community for more than 35 years and blogging about it since 2005. He considers fundraising the most noble of pursuits and hopes you’ll join him in that opinion. You can reach him at jeff [at] jeff-brooks [dot] com.
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