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Unlike fundraising events, fundraising letters are more personal and provide you with the necessary “meeting” with each of your potential donors. Also, a well written fundraising letter has all the chances to be passed along – unlike fundraising phone calls, special events and personal visits, they have the ability to reproduce themselves. For instance, your fundraising appeal will have the opportunity to reach more people and potential donors when compared to other types of fundraising events. This way, you will potentially double or even triple your fundraising efforts. The well known member-get-a-member letter is to be regarded as a perfect example when it comes to fundraising letters being dynamic and effective at work. Also, fundraising letters can be tested – you can easily test one package of letters against another in order to discover what works best for your fundraising organization and what is more likely to fail. This way, you will get the chance to spend your dollars only on the most effective fundraising letters. Direct mail is to be regarded as the best medium when it comes to measuring each of your returns on your initial investment. All you will have to do is to code each of your reply cards and proceed on counting the exact number of returns that come with a gift/donation. With fundraising letters, ROI is measurable and you will find out immediately how effective your fundraising letter campaign has been. Keep in mind that direct mail numbers do not lie and all you will have to do is to calculate the following: your response count, your response rate, average gift, gross income, net income and cost to raise every dollar. Unlike other fundraising campaigns, fundraising letter campaigns are likely to be well conceived, planned and even launched in a matter of weeks instead of months. Donations will be just as quick as they are likely to arrive within several days of your direct mailing. Also, a fundraising campaign will help you build the necessary base of support in order to attract further gifts from businesses, government and other foundations. By having a support base for your fundraising organization, you can guarantee your long-term survival and you can have this by building well-planned, comprehensive, well executed and annual fundraising letter campaigns. Fundraising letters have the ability to strengthen relationships and even create new ones. A fundraising letter campaign is to be regarded as a very cost-effective way to increase trust, build credibility and relationships and inform your donors over time without having to spend a fortune.
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