Tuto­r­i­al 2: Is direct mail fundrais­ing a sci­ence or an art?

It is a lit­tle of both. If you are a writer assigned to cre­ate fundrais­ing let­ters, then you have to deal with feel­ings, intu­ition, motivation.

Written by
Jerry Huntsinger
Added
February 27, 2019

Direct mail is a personal form of communication. And communication occurs only when you reach out and touch a person at a deep level.

This is why successful fundraising letters are rarely produced by committees or individuals who are locked into neat, logical routines of thinking.

Letter writing is a true art form, but is restricted to the realities of budget, package, programme and cost. The techniques used in the communication process must be focused on the purpose of creativity, i.e. increase net profit.

© SOFII Foundation 2010-2014.

About the author: Jerry Huntsinger

Jerry Huntsinger

Jerry Huntsinger was revered in direct marketing circles as the ‘dean of direct mail’. Many years ago, Jerry gifted his archive of direct mail tutorials to SOFII. All 57 of them are gems. Together, they add up to a complete ‘how-to’ guide that covers everything you need to know about direct mail fundraising. Sadly, Jerry passed away in August 2023. 

These tutorials were edited and presented to SOFII by Gwen Chapman. Gwen is a passionate advocate for donor-centric fundraising. She is a senior consultant with international experience in the non-profit sector in Canada, the United States, the UK and South Africa. She explains the importance of these tutorials here.

A note from SOFII: These tutorials were first published in a different era. They may contain words or themes that today we find inappropriate. SOFII has preserved the copy in our archive, without editing, in order to offer a true representation of the author’s contributions at the time.

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