The short answer: the strongest appeal letters usually open one of two ways — either they drop the reader straight into a real person's story, or they activate the reader's own sense of identity and shared values with your cause. Both work. Less effective is the slow warm-up: a mission statement or a paragraph of context before the reader has any reason to care. A weak opening line makes everything after it work harder to earn attention.

I found and reviewed over 40 academic studies on whether sad or happy photos raise more money in charitable appeals. The research is contradictory — because “sad or happy?” is the wrong question. What actually drives donations is the match between the photo and the message.

This table summarizes published research on the use of sad vs. happy facial expressions, image valence, and photo-message congruence in charitable advertising and fundraising appeals. Direct Mail Applicability rates each study’s relevance to the specific context of printed direct mail appeal letters sent to an organization’s own donors and prospects.

Follow-up emails are an essential tool for fundraisers to remind donors to give and make it easy for them to do so. These 5 tips will help you write an effective fundraising email.

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions around nonprofit broadcast, stewardship & solicitation emails, and the answers and professional insight you need to get started!