Writing a Winning Support Letter - Mike Kim

8/19/2019 Writing a Winning Support Letter - Mike Kim

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Writing a Winning Support Letter

By

Mike Kim


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Table of Contents

E IMPORTANCE OF SUPPORT LETTERS

HAT MAKES SUPPORT LETTERS COMPELLING

WINNING SUPPORT LETTER EXAMPLE

RITING YOUR SUPPORT LETTER

EQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

. “MIKE, ISN’T THIS LETTER TOO LONG?”

. “WHAT ABOUT PICTURES? EVERYONE TELLS ME TO USE PICTURES.”

. “SHOULD I TELL A STORY INSTEAD?”

. “SHOULD I START A BLOG TO SHOWCASE MY MISSIONS WORK ?”

. “WHERE CAN I GET MORE HELP?”

TTING YOUR LETTER READ

NCLUSION

OUT THE AUTHOR


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The Importance of Support Letters

When it comes to missions fundraising, there is no more

mportant document than your support letter.

Why? The reason is simple.ur support letter is directly related to how much money is raised for your ministry. It is essent“sales letter” of the fundraising world.

ere are a lot of opinions on support letters. If you look online, most of the advice centers on lan-profit organizations. These letters tend to be dry and “corporate” because these organizationve an image to uphold (and they have the money to hire marketing firms).

dividual missionaries or missionary families are not going to hire a professional copywriter toir letters. It’s just not cost-effective.

e problem is these folks aren’t writing compelling letters. It’s not their fault; they’ve never beeined to do so.

is resource is an attempt to bridge the gap. You may not have a website. You may not even hav

ail list. But you will — and always will — write support letters.

mply put, a well-written support letter is the most affordable way for you to raise money. You ve to travel anywhere, launch a website, or print a full-color newsletter. (I can’t wait to sharew case studies with you later.)


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What Makes Support Letters Compelling

o, what makes a support letter truly persuasive, engaging, and

ompelling?

you asked your donors this question, most of them wouldn’t be able to give you a clear answer

e decision to donate to your work involves a convergence of a number of factors – the donor’smiliarity with you, their level of trust in you, their current financial situation, and their belief (ok thereof) in the kind of work you are doing.

t from a marketing standpoint – which is the standpoint that I am writing to you from – the reasople give are quite clear (even if they can’t articulate them).

om my experience as a professional copywriter (copy is the text written for ads and marketingterials), a great support letter contains the same elements as a great sales letter:

1. Promise

2. Picture

3. Proof

4. Unique Selling Proposition

5. Offer

support letter that contains these elements will accomplish two things:

1. It will help your donors understand that you are worth investing in because of your clarityconfidence, and vision.

2. It will reduce the resistance your donor will have to contributing to your cause by gentlyguiding them to a desired outcome (to help you).

ere’s what the 5 elements look like in your support letter:

1. Promise: explaining what you’ll do with donations

2. Picture: making your mission vividly clear

3. Proof : giving your donors the “gift of going second,” showing that others have alreadydonated to you, or vouch for your credibility and competence

4. Unique Selling Proposition: explaining why you are uniquely qualified for your missioncause

5.

Offer: extending an invitation to your donor to give (in marketing, we refer to this as the“call-to-action”)


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hough all good support letters contain these elements, each bears its

wn distinct flavor.

infuse your support letter with your own distinct flavor, weave in some extra information specyou. Also, make sure to incorporate these additional factors:

1. Answer WIIFM, which stands for “What’s in it for me?” (This is the question your donor

asking as they read your letter. Is this worth reading? What’s in this for me?)

2. Answer the uncomfortable, unspoken questions a donor may have.

3. Make your subheads progress logically, so that if one were to read only the subheads, theof your letter would still be communicated.

4. Invite the donor to give before the bottom of the first page.

5. Use specific details such as cities, dates, numbers, and names. This will help your donor create a mental picture of what you do, and where you serve.

6. Create tension and a sense of adventure and urgency. This will allow your donors to feel they are part of something big, daring, or bold.

7. Use interesting facts that make your donors feel as if they’ve learned something from readyour letter.

this all really necessary?

s! Your donor is busy, distracted, and will often be disinclined to give to you. The letter mustgage your donor’s interest.

is is the reason that larger non-profits hire professional copywriters and marketers to craft thepport letters. Beneath the surface information within a support letter are the subliminal applicaemotion, psychology, and language.


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ese are the hidden elements that really make a letter stand out – and persuade people to actionven you the professional insider secrets. So …

With that in mind, let’s get to work!


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A Winning Support Letter Example

illustrate these principles, let’s walk you through an actual support letter I was hired to write.e to keep in mind that this is only a template for you to follow.

s not an absolute formula to be followed blindly, but it will help you write better letters, faster

you want more training on how to use marketing principles to increase the effectiveness of youndraising, refer to my full training course, Marketing For Missionaries*

y client was a church plant in Cambridge, MA right near Harvard University and MIT. While tha isn’t exactly an unreached people group, it’s pretty close!

e goal was to raise $30,000 to fund a larger scale “church launch” event, and included a city-w

vertising campaign, website and branding overhaul, and several community outreach events thuld help get the word out about this new church for their launch.

or the best results, I urge you to read this letter out loud three times

es, I mean it!) before you proceed through the rest of this guide.

you take shortcuts now, you will self-sabotage the learning process and your fundraisingvelopment in the long run.

y goal is not to simply give you a template for your next support letter. My goal is to equip you ite better letters. Reading professional sales letters out loud (and actually copying them longhasomething I do to this day to keep my writing skills sharp.

ad the entire letter out loud, three times.

you really want to get good at this, copy the letter by hand 3 times as well.)

ruary 19, 2014


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r Mike,

ver 14 years of ministry, my wife Gina and I have given our lives to minister to those that God has sent us to. For the past four

Lord planted us near Boston, MA, specifically Cambridge. We have big news: on September 28, 2014: we are formally

nching Journey Church!

hat have we been doing the past 3 years?

ugh we held church services starting in September 2010 and did outreach, Gina and I approached ministry here as missionaries

used on building relationships, adapted our training and past experience to minister in this unique community, and essentially lear

w way of life.

past four years have been vital in assimilating into Cambridge life. The right team had to be trained, church infrastructure and

ems had to be built, and resources needed to be gathered. Now af ter 3 years of diligent training, building, and saving—w

dy!

elcome home, Cambridge.

mbridge, MA is like no other place on earth. It’s an academic and political hotbed—home to some of the world’s top universitie

uding Harvard University and MIT. To say Cambridge is influential is an understatement. Eight U.S. presidents have graduatedvard alone. MIT boasts eighty-one Nobel-laureates! Only 2.1% of the people in the Greater Boston area attend an evangelical

rch. One in three people in Cambridge are from another country.

are going to launch Journey Church right in the heart of this influential and diverse community.

t’s why our team is calling this the “Welcome Home” campaign. We want to bring people home: to Christ, to eternity, and to

ily.

e are uniquely called and qualified to reach this community.

ve all heard the Northeast is the “preacher’s graveyard.” A biblical worldview wars against the intellectual ideologies that are

valent here. Yet we’ve determined to make Journey Church home to the people of Cambridge. Our goal is to have 150-180 new

ple attend our launch. Then we’ll continue with our weekly services in strength. We believe we’re uniquely qualified to reac

mmunity:

· We know Cambridge. We’ve lived here, worked here, and raised our children here.

· Our past college ministry experience has been vital in helping us understand student life and building relationships with pe

from diverse backgrounds.

· Our team is talented, diverse, and has caught the vision to reach this city.

· I’ve personally called on top church planters to advise and mentor us every step of the way.

· We have the support of other local pastors. Our heart is to reach Cambridge…together.

ould you give financially to launch Journey Church?

a and I have already made our faith promise to this campaign along with many from our church. So far, over $8000 has been

ed/committed! I have been working a day job to supplement the ministry’s income. Would you join us in giving to the launc

rney Church?

ur goal is to raise $30,000 by May 29, 2014.


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ur Financial Breakdown.

$8,000 – will help Gina and I devote lead Journey Church full-time. We will spearhead the launch, build ministry

infrastructure, cultivate relationships with the Cambridge community, and be equipping any leaders until Journey Church is

sustaining.

$8,000 – marketing. This includes print materials, direct mailers, a website revamp, and securing bus and subway ad sp

Part of the challenge in an urban environment is being seen and heard above the noise. We want to meet people where th

at: online and on the subway.

$5,000 – outreach. We love serving our Cambridge community, but it costs money. We will engage in 3-4 large-scale

community outreach initiatives between now and September to build stronger relationships and gain exposure.

$5,000 – mobile church equipment. This includes tech gear (new speakers, drums, and other worship equipment) and

equipment like staging, stuff for Journey Kids and signage.

$4,000 – unforeseen expenses. This will go toward hospitality, unforeseen needs, last minute expenditures, and disciple

needs after the launch.

dividual one-time donations.

s is an individual breakdown of what we need to reach our goal. Would you tak e one of these slots?

· 1 person at $5000

· 2 people at $2500


· 6 people at $500

· 8 people at $250


ou prefer to give online or give towards specific needs, visit: www.jcboston.org/welcomehome.

ur gift will be handled with complete integrity through the 501C3 organization of Journey Church under the accountability of our

rnal ministry overseers, including Pastor Chris Wood from Zion Fellowship in Canandaigua, NY and Pastor Mike Rondeau from

pel Center in Southbridge, MA.

u are giving to a lasting work.

goal is not just a one-time event or a blip on the screen. We’ve diligently prepared our team for the long-haul. We’re here to m

iples of Jesus Christ in Cambridge. Journey Church will be a life-giving, impact church with your help.

p us launch a life-giving church in the heart of one of the most influential communities in the world. He lp us launc

rney Church. Help us bring the people of Cambridge…home.

cerely,

nt & Gina Murawskid Pastors, Journey Church

http://www.jcboston.org/welcomehome


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w that you've read the letter three times, let's take a look at all the elements within it:


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Writing Your Support Letterw it’s your turn.

w that you’ve seen how this template can work for you, let’s walk step by step through the progathering the right information.

1. Explain what you need to raise support for. Be as specific as possible. Refrain from blstatements like, “We are on the frontlines of evangelism to bring glory to God and expand tkingdom in Mozambique.” Remember the call to action used in the letter: the purpose of the letter was to raise moneyhelp launch Journey Church. Simple, direct, and clear.

2. Gather interesting facts (just use Google) about the locale you are serving in. When yoshare details, be specific. To say “We need $5,000” is much better than “we need several

thousand dollars.” Don’t say, “We are going to the Philippines” – rather, say “We will be stationed in Los Banstrategic location several hours north of the capital of Manila which allows us to establish foothold into the more rural areas while staying tethered to the capital city to access goods transportation.”

3. Use the support letter template, and incorporate your information into it.

4. Proofread, format the letter, and send!

emember how people will really read your letter:

hile it’s nice to think that people will read every word, it’s simply not true. Think about your dencies when reading a newspaper article, blog post, or even email. There’s a good chance yoe most people. You:

1. Scan the headline, or subject line of the email. If it is compelling, you:2. Scan the subheadings. If they are compelling, you:3. Scan the bullet points. If – and only if (!)– they are compelling, will you scroll back up an

read the actual copy.

ur subheadings and bullet points need to be compelling. Your letter must also be “scan-able” –aning you should break up the copy into smaller, bit-sized pieces. (You can see that the paragrmy letter were very short.)

henever possible, make the subheadings of your letter cohesive enough that the reader would


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derstand the gist of the message, even without reading the body copy.

re is a list of the subheadings from this letter.

you can see, they get the point across quickly:

· What have we been doing the past 3 years?

· Welcome home, Cambridge.

· We are uniquely called and qualified to reach this community.

· Would you give financially to launch Journey Church?

· Our goal is to raise $30,000 by May 29, 2014.

· Our financial breakdown.

· Individual one-time donations.

· You are giving to a lasting work.

lso, stay away from using the word “I.”frain from excessive use of the word “I” in your support letter. This is a subconscious thing thkes your letter sound self-centered.

ing “I” in a support letter is unavoidable, but try to avoid starting sentences with “I.” If you’rerious, the support letter above had only one sentence that started with an “I.”

o, how did the letter perform?u might be glad to know: this letter helped Journey Church surpass their donation goal of $30ter on, I repurposed this letter to help another church plant raise over $50,000 for their launch.at’s $80,000 for two new church plants.

25,000 raised for ministry in a closed nation …

e of my students from the Marketing For Missionaries fundraising course (whom I’ll call Ah

privacy sake) used this very same letter as a template to raise money for his ministry.

was facing significant challenges: he ministers in a closed nation and can’t publicize his minline. He didn’t have an existing donor base, either. Ahmad took this letter, filled in his ministryormation, and physically mailed it to 40 different pastors.

e results were astounding.

ut of the 40 letters, Ahmad received five invitations to speak at churches and missions confere

here he could openly share about his work and appeal for donations.


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e church was so moved by his story that they put him on regular monthly financial support, gavm a $10,000 one-time gift, and took a free-will offering from the congregation that totaled over000. That’s about $20,000 from just one church!

mad reported another church he contacted donated $5,000. From these responses alone, he raiughly $25,000 – and it all started with a carefully crafted support letter.

an’t guarantee these kinds of results for you. What I can guarantee is that a high-quality supporter can position you for these kinds of breakthroughs.

is takes work. Ahmad still had to write the letter, target a number of churches, and mail them. Ogot the invitations, he had to travel to these churches and communicate his vision in a compelly. He obviously did a great job, but his support letter is what opened the door for him.

ur letter may very well work this way for you, too.

pert fundraiser Harvey McKinnon once said,

onor loyalty is not about the donor being loyal to you, it is you bei

yal to the donor.

compelling, informative support letter serves your potential donors. It engages them with the imd outcomes of their investments of time, wisdom, expertise, connections, and money.

ncourage you to utilize pride, not apology, when asking for support. I don’t mean pride in theuffed up” sense of the word. By pride I mean dignity.

end, what you are doing is important. It is meaningful. It is necessary. It is worthy.

ople will give to you because you meet other’s needs – not because you have needs. Show younors how you’re changing lives. Add value to your donors, and let them experience the joy of rticipating in a great work.

ur fundraising is really a gentle lesson to others in teaching the joy of giving.


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Frequently Asked Questions


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“Mike, isn’t this letter too long?”

ort answer – no. When it comes to letters of a transactional nature, length implies strength. Ley there is someone that is ready to give to you. They won’t need to read the entire letter becausir mind is already made up.

ur letter needs to persuade the person that is on the fence. Well-organized, compelling informambined with expressive language will help that person engage with your work.

ving a lot to say implies that you know what you are doing. Marketing studies have conclusiveown (despite what people say) that when it comes to sales or transactional letters, longer is bew long? Long enough to cover the subject, and short enough to keep the reader interested .


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“What about pictures? Everyone tells me to use pictures.”

ey say pictures speak a thousand words. The problem is those words don’t always persuade thy you want them to. Use a picture of a desolate slum, and your letter immediately becomes anotional downer. Use a picture of yourself posing with village kids against the backdrop of a

autiful blue sky, and people think you’re on vacation. (Crazy, but true.)

ctures do appeal to human emotion, and yes – people make financial decisions based on emoti

e problem you have as a fundraiser is that a donor does not receive an immediate psychologicyoff (they do not receive a product or service that benefits them), so you can’t follow the exacme formula.

y recommendation: use photos on smaller pieces that are paper-clipped to your support lettee a 4x6 prayer card that the donor can place on their refrigerator. That way they feel a connectth you, but the support letter is free to grab their undivided attention.

member, your singular goal is to get your potential donors to read your support letter!


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“Should I tell a story instead?”

at depends on: 1. whether you have a good story to tell, 2. whether you can tell it well, and thrhether you’ll have enough room to lay out the details about your financial needs within your supter.

ories are a powerful tool in conveying the effectiveness of your ministry. They can certainly apyour donor’s emotions – if they are told well.

his is a challenge for you, save the stories for your other correspondence, like blog posts,wsletter updates, emails, or even the prayer card I mentioned in the previous question.

nce those won’t be “transactional” types of correspondence, your donor will be able to fully enth the emotional appeal of a great testimony.

fter all, your correspondence with donors isn’t only limited to occasions when you need moneht? If so, you might consider keeping in touch more regularly and without requests for donationrelational, not transactional.)


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“Should I start a blog to showcase my missions work?”

short, yes. For more reasons why, visit my blog post 5 Smart Ways Missionaries Can Raise Mnancial Support .


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“Where can I get more help?”

el free to reach out to me via social media channels or my blog at mikekim.com. The best resomy full-length fundraising course called Marketing For Missionaries.

date, over 40 missionaries have taken the course – and like Ahmad who was mentioned earlieve seen tremendous results. For full details, visit marketingformissionaries.com.


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Getting Your Letter Read

ou’ve done the hard work and are ready to mail your lette

f you want to make sure it gets opened, try this simple hac

ake your package oddly shaped.

you’re on a shoestring budget, buy some individually wrapped hard candy like Jolly Ranchers d stuff ‘em in your envelope! If you have a straight legal letter envelope, it works even better cause the package won’t be flat.

is works because people rarely, if ever, ignore oddly-shaped mail.

ke email, snail mail also competes for the recipient’s attention. You’ve got to find a way to makur piece stand out. Personally, I let snail mail accumulate for days and then go through “the purt I never ignore oddly shaped mail. Neither will your recipients.

e used this for both the company where I work as chief marketing officer as well as in personad nonprofit fundraising. If you have a worship or teaching CD, stick it in a non-jewel case insi

recipient will feel the weight of something shifting around. Plus they get a free gift!

member, you’ve got to grab the recipient’s attention so they open your package. Since snail maesn’t come announced with an eye-catching headline, it’s got to come in an eye-catching — or st attention-grabbing — way.

w go get some Jolly Ranchers!


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Conclusion

eparing a well-crafted support letter like the one outlined here will require a considerablevestment of time and thought on your part. However, you get free templates here: mikekim.com/winnou are free to copy and paste it into your word processing program). This will save you hours iting a letter from scratch.

rther, this kind of investment will pay dividends later when you are given opportunities to sharion of your ministry, either in churches, conferences, or one-on-one settings. It will go a long

ward actually increasing your financial support.

http://mikekim.com/winning


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About the Author

ke Kim is a business strategist, marketing consultant, copywriter and blogger, and has beentured on Entrepreneur.com, The Huffington Post, and the Church Marketing Podcast. He has b

volved in marketing at a C-suite level as chief marketing officer of a multi-million dollar brandsed in the competitive NYC media market, and is quickly become a rising voice in new medias also served in a variety of ministry roles as a speaker, worship pastor, songwriter, producer,

ent promoter.

ke’s love for missions is rooted in his ministry journeys, which have taken him all over the Unates and abroad, including numerous countries within South and Central America, as well as Sngapore, Philippines, Malaysia, and of course South Korea.

ke and his wife Iris live in the suburbs of New Jersey, just outside the Big Apple.

ontact

u can connect with Mike here:

og: mikekim.com

witter: twitter.com/mikekimtv

cebook: facebook.com/mikekimtv

eaking: mikekim.com/speaking

mail: [email protected]
mailto:[email protected]?subject=Ask%20Mike!http://mikekim.com/speaking/https://www.facebook.com/mikekimtv?_rdrhttps://twitter.com/mikekimtvhttp://mikekim.com/

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