Last week I started working on a pro-bono fundraising letter for a Great Dane rescue in Ohio that I used to help out at.
Like a lot of rescues, they’re awesome at helping save abused and neglected dogs…
But they don’t know the first thing about raising money.
So I’m helping ’em out.
And since it’s fresh on my mind, I thought I’d break down what I’m doing for them so you can get an “inside” look at how I think.
Here’s the plan…
I’m focusing everything on one direct mail letter that will be sent out after Thanksgiving but before Christmas.
I want it to hit people’s mailboxes on December 9th and 10th.
This is strategic.
If I do it the week before, people will still be wrapping up from the long Thanksgiving weekend.
Many will be traveling back home.
So they’ll already have a bunch of stuff going on.
So I don’t want the letter hitting their mailbox then.
I want it hitting on a week where there’s no much going on.
And I also want to make sure it hits their mailbox on a Monday or Tuesday.
Why?
Because I don’t want it hitting on a Thursday or Friday when people are already in “weekend mode”.
That’s when it’s easy to just set things aside and forget about them.
I don’t want that.
Also…
I don’t want it hitting the week before Christmas (December 16th-17th).
Then I’m competing with Christmas and I’m not gonna win that battle.
So as you can see, I put a lot of thought into the date that the letter will hit their mailbox.
And settled on December 9th and 10th.
That’s enough time after Thanksgiving that they’re done with that…
And it’s far enough away from Christmas that people won’t be traveling for Christmas.
So now that I have the date settled…
Let’s look at who I’m going to be sending this fundraising letter to…
After talking to the owner of the rescue, I had her pull up a list of people who donated $100 or more in the last few years.
It’s a small rescue, so there were only 121 people.
But like anything there’s an 80/20 rule to this.
There’s a lot of people who have donated $100 to the rescue.
But in that list of 121 people, there’s also 5-6 people who are mega-donors.
These are people who have donated between $5,000 and $15,000.
These donors are extremely important.
Cause it’s a lot easier to get $10,000 from one of them, then it is to get $100 from a hundred different people.
Make sense?
Now one note…
With the mega-donors I have to be very careful here.
Because a few of these big donors have personal relationships with Dale (the woman who runs the rescue).
So I don’t want to send them the same ole’ letter everyone else is getting.
So for the mega-donors, I’m going through each one with Dale, and we’re handling them individually.
The mega-donors that she KNOWS personally – and knows will make their yearly donation, we are not sending a letter to.
Why?
Because these people make a donation at the end of every year like clockwork.
And if they don’t, Dale can get on the phone with them and talk to them about it.
So for the 2-3 mega donors that she personally knows, I’m leaving them out of the mailing.
However that leaves another 3 mega-donors who randomly have donated $5,000 or more.
These people don’t have any contact with Dale.
And don’t know her personally.
So these people are going to get a hand-written note from Dale.
Along with a special letter that talks about how major donors like them are what keeps the rescue alive.
It will be all about showering them with recognition for their efforts.
Cause that’s what they really want.
Nobody donates money to not be recognized.
They want to feel special.
So that’s what I’m going to do – make them feel special.
Now, for the other 120+ donors on the list…
They’ll all be getting a 6-8 page direct mail piece that I’m working on right now.
Like most fundraising letters for dog rescues, it starts with a sad story.
Mine is about a Great Dane named Rylee who was dumped by her family on the side of the road.
Basically after a few years, they decided they didn’t want her anymore…
And instead of bringing her to a rescue (like a normal person would), they drove out to an abandoned road, opened the car door and dumped her like a bag of trash.
It’s a pretty heartbreaking story.
Especially because eventually Rylee wound up getting hit by a car as she was roaming the streets all alone.
Luckily for her, a nice woman eventually found her, and and took her to Harlequin Haven (the rescue I’m helping).
And they got her the medical treatment she needed. It took a while. But now-a-days Rylee is living in a loving home with a big back yard that she gets to play in everyday.
So she’s loving life.
But that wouldn’t have been possible without Harlequin Haven helping her.
So that’s the story I’m using in the letter.
It will be a few pages of Rylee’s story, and then a few pages of all the great stuff the rescue has accomplished, and then the end will be the pitch for why we need them to donate money.
Pretty simple.
And I’ve gone through 8-10 other controls for dog rescues picking the good stuff out of those and putting it into mine.
So I think this will do great.
However, I honestly have no idea how much this will raise.
Could be $2,000.
Could be $20,000.
Counting the mega-donors, I’m thinking we could do closer to $20,000.
Which would be awesome.
But like I mentioned earlier, a lot of it will come down to the mega donors.
They’re what moves the needle the most.
So I’m gonna put a lot of focus on making them feel special.
Anyways…
I’m in the middle of writing this fundraising letter right now so I wanted to share that.
Hopefully it gives you a little glimpse into how I think about copy and marketing.
Enjoy your Thursday.
– Justin
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