| Back in 1985, which I now realize is more than 20 | | | | donor's heart. |
| years ago, a homeless man stood at the corner of | | | | Look for painful feelings or situations that you share |
| College and Yonge streets, in downtown Toronto, | | | | with those you serve. Look for the sympathy that |
| begging for money. This was his cry: | | | | you feel over another person's suffering. Look for |
| "Quarter! Quarter! Dime! . . . Nickel! . . . Eeeeeeeeven a | | | | that tender sorrow that you feel for someone (an |
| penny will do!" | | | | orphan, a battered mother, a prisoner of conscience) |
| Of all the panhandlers that I met during those four | | | | in distress. |
| years that I walked the streets of Hogtown, I | | | | Then craft your letter so that you capture that pity |
| remember this man alone. He stirred an emotion that | | | | and evoke it in your donors through the written |
| made him unforgettable. | | | | word. Fundraising letters, as Ken Burnett so well |
| That emotion was pity. | | | | observed, differ from sales letters in one vital way: |
| I can recite his pitch word for word because it was | | | | buyers and sellers have a relationship of shared |
| so pitiful. He didn't change a word of it in four years. | | | | commercial interest, but donors and fundraisers enjoy |
| He yelled his appeal all day, every day, from the | | | | a relationship of shared conviction. |
| same corner at the uncaring masses. He clearly had a | | | | One way to advance that shared conviction is to |
| mental illness and couldn't work. He didn't appear | | | | supervise your tear ducts and your oesophagus. |
| alcoholic. So my heart was moved whenever I | | | | When searching for a profitable fundraising letter |
| passed his corner, and I sometimes dropped change | | | | theme, ask yourself this: "What is it about this |
| into his outstretched hand, and spoke a kind word. | | | | problem that makes me cry or (if I am a man) puts |
| I donated to his cause for the same reason that | | | | a lump in my throat?" When you find it, describe it to |
| your donors can donate to your cause--compassion. | | | | your donor in a way that moves their emotions, |
| When you sit down to craft a fundraising appeal | | | | which moves them to donate. Twenty years from |
| letter, look for the problems in your work that stir in | | | | now, they might not recall what you write today, but |
| you feelings of pity, compassion or sympathy. If | | | | you never know. |
| something stirs your heart, it will likely stir your | | | | © 2006 Sharpe Copy Inc. |