Where to Look for New Donors for Your Fundraising Letter Appeals

Have you ever studied your best donors and wished you couldclone them all? Maybe you can, with a bit of creative thinking.

1. Friends of current supporters
Thefirst place to look is friends, family and colleagues of yourcurrent supporters. The odds are good that your most generousand faithful donors have friends or co-workers or family memberswho will want to support your cause as well.

One of the most popular ways of acquiring new donors like thisis through a Friend-Get-a-Friend program. At the best timesduring the year (which you discover through testing), you inviteyour current donors to refer a friend to your organization. Thisis usually done with a buckslip or liftnote that goes out withyour regular fundraising appeal letter. But you can also includea tear-out coupon in your newsletter and a sign-up form on yourwebsite.

2. Clients
Another source of new donorsis your clients, the people that your organization serves.Naturally, if your clients are homeless or poor, they are notprospects for donor appeal letters. But if your clients areformer hospital patients, or university alumni, or retiredfolks, then you have a valuable source of potential supporters.These people already know your mission, who you serve and howyou help them.

3. Volunteers
Another group ofindividuals that knows all about your organization is yourvolunteers. They not only know you, they believe in you. That'swhy they give you their time and talents. Now you can ask themto give their treasure as well.

4. Staff
One advantage of asking yourstaff for donations is that you know two things about them. Youknow that they know your case for support. And you know thatthey have money. So send them an appeal letter. Or better yet,ask them to join your monthly giving program, with their giftcoming right out of their pay each payday.

5. Peer groups
One organization I havewritten fundraising letters for is Doctors Without Borders. Theyare a group of volunteer doctors and nurses who deliveremergency medical care in places where no medical infrastructureexists, usually because of war or natural disasters. In oneacquisition campaign that I worked on, Doctors Without Borderssent acquisition letters to two peer groups—doctors andpharmacists. They reasoned that these two groups of medicalpractitioners would identify closely with the mission of DoctorsWithout Borders, even if they were not able or inclined tovolunteer overseas.

Does your organization have a professional peer group that is anatural source of donors? Send them a well-crafted appeal letterthat speaks to them as peers and is signed by a peer, and seewhat happens.

6. Affinity groups
Is your not-for-profitaffiliated with a particular religious group, ethnic group orservice organization? Then you have a ready-made source of newsupporters, provided that they also meet your other criteria forsuitable donors. If you are an evangelical Christian, forexample, as I am, then you can look to fellow evangelicals fordonations. If you are Italian-American and you live in LittleItaly (in New York City), then you have a large group of folkswhom you can approach for funds. If you are a member of RotaryInternational, your fellow members are a source of new support.

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