New donors are closer than you think. Often they are friends of your donors, or family members.
If you know someone who has undergone successful treatment for cancer or another serious illness, you know first-hand how the experience involved immediate family, extended family, friends, co-workers and neighbours. Many of these concerned people will have shared in the sadness of the initial diagnosis, the uncertainty of the treatments and the joy of the successful outcome.
They will also likely have respect and admiration for the hospital staff who saved the life of your family member or friend. And they will likely feel passionately about finding a cure for any disease that takes the life of a loved one or colleague.
I, for example, have a father dying of Alzheimer's Disease. I haven't seen the worst of the disease yet, but I expect to. So I have a tender spot in my heart for the families and friends of others who know someone who is suffering from this memory thief. I would likely give a donation to an organization that is seeking a cure for Alzheimer's, if asked in the right way by the right person at the right time.
So consider the friends and family of your donors and clients as a good source of donations. Find a way to get the names and addresses of these folks, then mail them a sensitive, upbeat appeal letter, one that touches their hearts and encourages them to save the lives of other patients who are suffering from the same disease.
If you cannot get their names on your own, invite your donors to pass along a letter from you, inviting them to sign up for your newsletter or other useful information. Then follow up with a request for a gift.
This method works equally well for other types of organizations. My wife and I, for example, adopted two boys through Jewels for Jesus (www.jewelsforjesus.org), an adoption agency in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. We participated in a fundraiser for them in which we solicited donations from our families and friends, all of whom knew our wonderful and exciting adoption story. We raised around $1,520, and attracted 32 new donors, whom the agency could follow up with using their donor newsletter (the agency got the permission of the new donors before adding them to the mailing list).
The secret to friend-get-a-friend campaigns is to make the job of your solicitor as easy as possible. Give your donors or members all the literature they need (including reply devices and reply envelopes if needed) to recruit new donors or members. The less work you require of them, the better.
Learn more . . .
Learn more by reading 18 Places to Find New Donors Using Fundraising Letters, the seventh Handbook in the Hands-On Fundraising Series, published by Andrew Spencer Publishing. It's the professional fundraiser's guide to creative and cost-effective donor acquisition. Read about it at www.RaiserSharpe.com/handbooks.
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