A Guide To NonProfit Letter Writing

Writing letters can be a very beneficial tool for nonprofit organizations. Letters can help you connect with your community, build your cause, increase your outreach, and build your volunteer base.

Direct mail is a great option for nonprofit letters. Direct mail allows you to create a personalized approach that has increased intimacy and can help you build connections in your community. When you add handwritten letters to your direct mail campaigns, you add a personalized touch that increases open rates and responses.

There are a lot of ways you can use letters for your nonprofit to help you have more success. Scribe offers letter-writing services to make starting your direct mail journey as easy as possible, including a self-service API for almost any CRM.

Scribe offers a variety of services that can be customized to best meet your needs. Get in touch today to learn more about our services and how we can help you grow your nonprofit.

Define Your Purpose for Nonprofit Direct Mail

Before you can write an effective letter, it’s important to understand what you’re trying to accomplish with the letter. Depending on your goal, knowing how you’ll use your letter campaign to accomplish your goals will dictate who you send your mailing to and what messaging you’ll use.

You can have a variety of goals for a nonprofit letter. If you’re writing a nonprofit donation letter, you should explain the type of donation you’re seeking and the purpose of the donation.

For any nonprofit letter, whether you’re seeking donations or looking for volunteers, you need to make the purpose of your letter clear. Make sure to mention what action you’re hoping that they’ll take after reading your letter, and be sure to keep your letter concise and easy to read.

Some common direct mail campaigns for nonprofits include:

Donation campaigns
Event campaigns
Volunteer campaigns

No matter what kind of campaign you’re creating, knowing what your goal is can help you craft the best campaign possible. Need help? Our White Glove services can help you create an effective nonprofit direct mail campaign.

Write a Compelling Introduction

Your letter should have an interesting introduction that’s friendly and grabs attention. If possible, you should personalize the introduction to address your recipient. Our technology allows you to personalize every letter for your readers by using your CRM to manage mail merge fields and other advanced personalization capabilities.

Use your introduction to grab attention quickly. Asking a question, using a quote, or listing a statistic are great examples of ways to get a reader’s attention quickly.

Your introduction is also where you should try to make a connection with your reader. Don’t just say something to get their attention. Say something that you think will connect them to your cause and get their attention.

Explain Your Mission and Needs

It’s important that your letter explains what your nonprofit does. It can be a good idea to include information about specific projects your organization is working on, general goals, and recently completed projects.

You should try to emphasize the impact of the reader’s donation. Explain the value of their time, money, or items to your organization and goals.

With previous donors, you should make sure to include thanks and acknowledgment for their continued support of your goals and mission. With Scribe’s technology, you can send different letters to different individuals, customizing the message for each recipient as needed with information from your CRM.

Provide a Call to Action

Your call to action should be obvious and accessible. Make it as easy to donate as possible and provide a clear call to action that explains what kind of support you’re looking for and how they can provide that.

If you’re looking for monetary donations, you should provide a link or a QR to your donation page. When donating money, asking for a specific amount can help reduce the donor’s need for decision-making and make it easier for them to donate.

When asking for time donations, clearly explain how to sign up to volunteer and what kind of commitment volunteering entails.

Audience Segmentation

Dividing your audience into smaller segments can help your letters be more successful. You can write specific letters to smaller groups of people that target their interests more directly.

Here are a few examples of simple ways to segment your audience:

Recurring vs. first-time donors
Former volunteers vs. the general public
Interests

The more information you have about the individuals you’ll mail, the more effective of a campaign you can create. With Scribe, you can customize each letter you send for a personalized approach to non-profit mailings while saving volunteer time.

Start Using Direct Mail For Your Nonprofit Today

Direct mail can be a great option for nonprofits. These tips can help you write letters to reach your goals, expand your reach, and attract more people to your organization.

Scribe can help you leverage your direct mail to be more effective for you. Personalized direct mail has been proven to have higher open and response rates than other forms of mailers.

We can be as involved in your direct mail journey as you want. Whether that means simply printing and mailing your letters or working with you to write your letters, our services can be customized to meet your needs.