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 is revered in direct marketing circles as the dean of direct mail. 

Some years back Jerry gifted his archive of direct mail tutorials to SOFII and we’ve been serialising them ever since. All 50-plus are gems. Together, they add up to a complete ‘how-to’ guide to everything you need to know about direct mail fundraising.

These tutorials are edited and presented by Gwen Chapman.

Gwen_Chapman.jpg#asset:8990:urlGwen Chapman 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 to these tutorials here.

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Tutorial 5: What’s all this talk about junk mail?

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