10 Elements of an Effective Nonprofit Fundraising Appeal

If you’re not sure why a fundraising appeal is underperforming or how to improve your nonprofit’s ask strategy, it helps to break it down into parts. Determine which aspects of your appeal need improvement most, and address them one at a time until you end up with a compelling appeal that drives donor acquisition, retention, and increased giving.

In this article, we’ve isolated ten core elements of a successful fundraising appeal so you can analyze and improve the effectiveness of each part.

1. Timing

The timing of your ask is often one of your first considerations when drafting and sending an appeal. Is it too soon to ask for another gift? Does it make sense to ask for donations at this point in the campaign? Are donors feeling burnt out? 

To address these questions and choose the best timing for your appeal, think about timing in terms of:

• The time of year. The year’s final months are prime time to ask for donations since 30% of annual giving happens in December. In January, however, your donors may feel tired from the holidays and less interested in giving.

• The phase of your fundraising campaign. An appeal on day one of your new campaign will look very different from one sent in the final week, so keep your campaign timeline in mind when drafting appeals.

• How recently you sent your last appeal. Consider when the recipient last donated and whether they’d be open to giving again yet. 

• The day of the week and time of day if it’s an email appeal. There’s no perfect send time, but your donor data will tell you the times when supporters are most likely to open your emails.

Say that you’re drafting a year-end giving appeal to send in the first week of December. Consider how many weeks remain in your year-end giving campaign and when your last appeal for donations went out. If you sent five emails a week ago to promote GivingTuesday, you may decide to push your new appeal to the middle of December instead.

2.  Appeal Copy

The copy of your fundraising appeal is the text you use to connect with potential donors and encourage them to give. As you draft your appeal copy, consider what kind of language typically resonates with donors, and pay attention to your tone. Does it align with your nonprofit’s brand? Does your tone feel appropriate for the ask you’re making? Is it positive and inclusive?

Additionally, try to keep your appeal letter to one page. Donors won’t spend too long reading your appeal, and they may not read it at all if it looks too lengthy. Stick to a few paragraphs that describe your cause and campaign, thank supporters for their past contributions or involvement, and reiterate the need for monetary support. 

You may need to tweak this structure to suit the needs of different fundraising efforts. For instance, a capital campaign appeal should provide more detail about the project you’re funding and its timeline. An annual appeal, on the other hand, might focus on the impact your organization has made throughout the year and how the donor played a part.

3. Personalization

A generic “Dear Donor” letter will not strike a chord with supporters who give their time and money to your organization. To retain donors and secure repeat donations, you must speak to them as individuals and show them you care about their unique contributions. 

Personalize fundraising appeals by incorporating the following details:

• The donor’s first name
• Appreciation for their most recent contribution (such as “your gift of $200” or “your time volunteering on 8/24”)
• Suggested gift amounts based on their giving history

Take your personalization further by using data analysis and segmentation to tailor appeals to specific supporter groups more effectively. Some organizations even work with fundraising consultants to leverage specialized support like predictive analytics, which helps nonprofits predict when certain donors might be ready to upgrade their support.

4. Storytelling

Inspire more empathy and motivation to give by telling stories in your appeals that increase donors’ feelings of connection to your cause. Effective storytelling pulls your audience into the reality of your nonprofit’s work, allowing them to feel the emotions of your beneficiaries, volunteers, and staff members through their stories.

To drive emotional connection and action with your appeals, identify stakeholders with inspiring, mission-relevant stories and ask them for permission to share their stories with donors. Use their own words when possible, incorporating direct quotes and testimonials into the appeal itself. When donors hear about the firsthand impact of your work, they’re more likely to trust your organization and donate to increase its impact.

5. Data

Donors need to be able to emotionally connect with your appeal and believe in the power of your work, which is where data comes in. Combine your storytelling with hard data for maximum impact. 

Prove to supporters that their gifts will make a difference by incorporating data such as:

• Past campaign results and the impact you achieved with that funding
• Statistics about the current state of the issue you’re working to solve
• Average donation sizes and the impact a gift of that size makes

• Program success metrics that demonstrate your programs work

By weaving data points like these into your appeals, you’ll reinforce your organization’s legitimacy and encourage donors to give more. Most of this data can be found in your organization’s donor database or program management platform, but you may need to do additional research to find up-to-date statistics on the current state of your cause.

6. Images

Sometimes images can reinforce your value proposition, but be careful that they don’t distract from the purpose of your appeal. Choose the images that you include in your fundraising appeals very carefully, and don’t overwhelm your reader with too many. Any image you include should communicate something to readers that the text alone can’t. 

For instance, an image of a child with hope in his eyes after receiving clean water from your organization might communicate the true value of your work better than words could on their own. This is especially true if you pair an image like this with that beneficiary’s own words about the impact your nonprofit had on his life. 

7. Design

Whether you’re creating a direct mail appeal or a digital ask, the visual design of your appeal matters. Your fundraising appeal must be readable, relevant, and visually compelling for donors to take the time to read the appeal fully. Consider design aspects like:

• Your brand colors
• Text fonts and sizes
• The layout of text and images
• Which parts of the appeal are emphasized visually
• The balance between text and visuals

If creating a direct mail appeal, perfect the design of both the letter and the envelope. If sending an email, make sure to test the visuals on different screen sizes and include alternative text in case your images load slowly.

8. Call to Action

Every fundraising appeal should end by asking the recipient to take some kind of action, typically to make a monetary donation (although you might also ask donors to send in-kind donations, request a matching gift from their employer, etc., depending on your campaign goals). This is called your appeal’s call to action (CTA).

An effective CTA is short, straightforward, and easy to follow. Tell supporters exactly what you want them to do and how they can take that action now. 

For instance, you might end your fundraising appeal with the CTA, “Donate today to provide kids like Dylan with life-saving care.” Then, include a link to your website’s donation page, a QR code, and/or instructions for mailing in a donation with the return envelope provided.

9. Suggested Donation Amounts

While including a suggested gift size with your CTA isn’t always necessary, it can encourage donors to give at levels that are appropriate for them. Base suggested donation amounts on individual donors’ past gift sizes, along with any financial capacity data you might have that indicates they could reasonably give a larger donation.

When you provide a realistic donation suggestion, such as $500 for a recurring donor who gave $400 last year, you can simplify the giving process and encourage donors to give more than they might have given originally.

10. Sign Off

Senders have a huge impact on the trust that is being built with a donor through your fundraising appeal. For instance, having your nonprofit’s director sign their name at the bottom of the letter (or sending an email appeal from their email address) indicates that the appeal is important and deserving of recipients’ attention. Ensure that each of your fundraising appeals comes from a real, recognizable person who donors trust.

Each of these appeal elements represents an opportunity for testing and optimization. Following established best practices doesn’t always guarantee growth, so be sure to test out these strategies and monitor their performance. By collecting and analyzing data from these appeals, you can confidently learn what works and what doesn’t to grow your fundraising.