Your fund drive letter is truly the driving force behind your entire fundraising campaign. If your target audience doesn’t read your letter, the chances of getting great donations can be ruined.

If you want donors and prospects to fully read your fundraising letter, you need to ensure that it is interesting, exciting, and enticing. Think about it – when a typical person picks up the mail, they won’t want to read long sales letters, or text-heavy updates from organizations they support, written in 12-point type with no colorful pictures or headlines.

Here are five ways to make your fund drive letter more enticing and persuade folks to read it.

1. Use a Headline

A headline is basically an advertisement for the rest of your letter. You want to make it compelling enough to grab your reader’s attention. If it’s intriguing, people will “buy” and read the next paragraph.

2. Use an Interesting, Bolded First Line

Some letters shouldn’t use a headline. If it feels more personal, opt for a compelling first line that is bolded and make it the first sentence of your paragraph. This will encourage people to read that first line because it really stands out. Imagine you get a letter from an institute you support and the first line simply says, “We need your help.”

3. Use an Image

Break up your letter and make it more interesting by adding a captivating image or graphic. Make sure that it’s so fascinating that readers want to find out more information on the image.

4. Tell a Story with Your Headlines

Breakup your letter into short, readable sections that readers can easily digest. As people skim through your letter and decide whether to read it, some of the things they typically glance at are the headlines. One of the best ways to make these headlines interesting is to tell a consistent story. For example, the three headlines throughout your letter could read:

• There Are Less Volunteer Firefighters In Our Town Now Than Ever Before
• Without These Essential Volunteers, We Cannot Help You in Emergency Situations
• Help Us Help Them

5. Use Color

A black and white letter won’ t get anyone’s attention. Make it more appealing to your readers by adding some color in your letterhead or heading.

If you are looking for a great company to develop an interesting, readable letter for your fund drive, contact Choice Marketing today at 800-999-2464 or at sales@choicemarketing.net.