Last Updated on September 25, 2022 by Jerome Donovan
Excellent donation message ideas can go a long way to converting prospects into donors. Of course, everybody wants a donor, but how do you write an invoking donation letter?
First, what do you say in a donation message to convince a prospect? In a donation message, you salute the prospect, introduce the letter, state the problem briefly, and highlight what will solve the problem. You may then make a donation request to the recipient.
On a donation page, however, you will write a statement of your mission, and provide a donation form for prospects to fill out and donate. You can boost the process by providing an optional pre-selected donation amount.
Let’s discover the strategic donation message ideas capable of attracting donations.
Donation Message Ideas
In this section, I will disclose strategic ideas to consider while creating donation messages.
Below are the donation message ideas:
Understand Your Audience
It is crucial to understand your audience to create an invoking donation message. First, determine your audience by assessing the nature of your demand.
For example, if you need donations to rehabilitate children’s welfare in a particular community, your primary audience would be the parents. Nevertheless, you also need non-parents to contribute to the campaign.
Now, segment your audience accordingly. Here, you need variables of donation messages to issue out to the respective audience. Of course, the donation message you are issuing to a group of college students will differ from what you present to employed persons.
Use Personal Pronouns
When you personalize a donation message, it appeals to the recipient deeply. It conveys emotions and accommodates the recipient as a family or a community. And the tone of the letter must not be commanding.
If you are writing the letter as an individual, you would want to use pronouns such as ‘I’ and ‘me’ to describe yourself. And you will use pronouns such as “we” and “us” if you are operating as an organization.
When referring to the recipient, you want to use terms such as “you” and “our”. It incites some sense of belonging within the prospect who feels welcomed. Also, if you know the name of the recipient, you may use their names or titles.
Use Inciting Terms
Regarding donation message ideas, you have to be selective of word choices. The choice of words must be inciting, appealing, and simple to understand.
It must also be such words that are emotional and that attempt to make the recipient sympathize with you. Some of the influential words to use are “please”, “help”, “appreciated”, “you”, “thank you”, and “donate”.
Understand that words serve as a call to action in every line requesting donations. Be mindful not to use commanding expressions such as “do it”, “now”, “don’t fail to”, “quickly”, etc.
Remember, the goal is not to compel but to convince the audience into action. Of course, you must incite sympathy from the recipient.
Pass a Concise Message with Infographics
It takes roughly 2 minutes for an average person to read a single page and about 30 seconds to dismiss the page. If your recipient is not in their free time, they could put away the donation letter within 30 seconds with plans to read it later; sadly, it might never happen.
You need a brief message alongside infographics of about 2-3 minutes duration. The lines and paragraphs of the donation message must be constructive and straight to the point.
Do not meander with the message and do not be too demanding. If you have more information to pass on, the attached images and videos, either in the letter or on your donation page, should do the job.
Call-to-Action
Before you conclude the letter, refer the recipient to the page where they can make donations. If the request letter is handwritten, you may attach the steps as a separate printout. But if it is a softcopy sent via email, include the link to the donation page.
I prefer to embed the link rather than use a naked URL. You could embed the in an expression such as Donate Here.
The process of making the donations should be easy and just a few clicks away; otherwise, prospects will exit the page.
Donation Message Sample
In this section, I have provided a donation message sample in the form of a donation message template. I structure the donation message template as an organization, but you may structure yours as an individual depending on the situation.
Below is a donation message example:
Dear [prospect]
We are grateful that you honor this donation letter by giving us time to read its contents.
We in this community believe that a problem [highlight the problem] shared is a problem solved, especially when shared with individuals like you. We have had successes in recent campaigns [mention past initiatives], which was positively impactful [highlight the positive impacts].
Yet again, we hope to make this campaign [highlight the campaign again] memorable, but we cannot do it alone.
We rely on your support to amend this problem [state the solution and the amount needed].
If you would be willing to participate and encourage our initiative [state the purpose of your organization], you may visit our donation page [include a link to the donation page].
Once again, we appreciate every minute you have spared for this message and we anticipate your support. Thank you.
Sincerely,
[Your title, organization, etc.]
Tips to Attract Donors
Convincing someone to give you money is not always easy. Nobody is willing to part with their money without a tangible reason. So, what do you do to steal the mind of the prospect?
Tell them the Sincere Objective
First, make sure you have a tangible objective. If the objective is not concrete enough, it is less likely that you will win the person as a donor.
Table the objective before the prospect and explain how helpful it’ll it will be for them to participate as a donor.
Do Not Beg
I understand that you need donors. But you do not have to beg to tears to convince a donor. Even an insincere person or an organization can become emotional to earn the support of the prospect.
If the prospect is not willing to participate, do not force them. Instead, leave them with good reasons why they should consider partaking in the donation.
Check Your Records
If your money request record is not clean, you may not attract donors easily.
Check your records and clear bad records if possible before you embark on searching for donors.
Final Thought
Developing an intriguing donation message is not challenging. When you identify your audience, specify the problem, and mention the solution, you are good to go.
It is now left for the prospect to decide whether or not they would be interested in supporting the course.
You can boost conversions of donation messages by providing a pre-selected amount on the donation page. It helps donors to decide faster and make instant donations without a second thought.