| How would your next fundraising letter perform if | | | | And as you continue the letter, you uncover a |
| Agatha Christie wrote it? | | | | conflict. The medicine that treats tuberculosis is |
| "Alan," you're whispering, "Agatha Christie is dead." | | | | too expensive in Bangladesh. Patients die because |
| "I know," say I. "But I'm trying to make a point | | | | they cannot afford their cure. You read on. |
| here. So bear with me." | | | | You find another conflict--drug manufacturers are |
| Agatha Christie is the world's best-known | | | | discontinuing some drugs because they are no |
| mystery writer and, apart from William | | | | longer profitable in the Third World. |
| Shakespeare, is the all-time best-selling author of | | | | You read on. Find another conflict. |
| any genre. Christie knew how to write novels that | | | | Thirty-nine multinational drug companies are suing |
| hooked readers right to the last page. The tool | | | | the government of South Africa to prevent its |
| she used was suspense. | | | | attempts to provide affordable treatment to |
| Include some suspense in your fundraising letters | | | | affected South Africans. |
| and you'll make them more powerful. | | | | These conflicts, added one after the other, build |
| To add suspense, you need a problem, some | | | | suspense. How will Doctors Without Borders ever |
| conflict and a goal. You begin your letter with your | | | | treat Mohammad and save his life unless the |
| problem. You show how this problem is in the | | | | organization can get its hands on affordable |
| way of you and your organization reaching your | | | | medicines? How will the story end? The reader |
| goal. During your letter, you introduce some | | | | wants to know. So the reader reads on. |
| conflicts (difficulties) that your donor must help | | | | Sure enough, the writer soon resolves the |
| you resolve. | | | | problem and ends the suspense: |
| You don't ask for a donation in your opening line. | | | | "In the enclosed brochure, you'll see that the |
| Or even in your opening paragraph. That would | | | | problem requires a threefold solution: legal and |
| spoil the ending. | | | | regulatory, economic, and research and |
| Instead, you hook your reader, preferably with a | | | | development. Doctors Without Borders is working |
| story, and add conflict here and there so that | | | | on all three of these pillars. But we need your help |
| your reader has to continue reading to see how | | | | to continue. With your renewed support this year, |
| things turn out. Here is an example of an opening | | | | we will continue to pursue our campaign to |
| from a fundraising letter mailed by Doctors | | | | provide access to essential medicines on a |
| Without Borders: | | | | long-term basis." |
| "One day, when I was Medical Coordinator for | | | | The problem is patients dying of a treatable |
| Doctors Without Borders refugee camps in | | | | disease. The goal is to raise funds to provide |
| Bangladesh, a nurse pulled me aside and asked | | | | access to essential medicines. The donor is invited |
| me to follow her. She led me to a small hut, and | | | | to make that goal a reality with a donation. |
| we went inside. A tall, emaciated man lay on a | | | | Follow this pattern of problem-conflict-goal in your |
| thin pad on the floor. We greeted one another | | | | letters and you'll build the kind of suspense that |
| and exchanged pleasantries. Then the nurse | | | | made Agatha Christie the second-best-selling |
| turned to me. 'This is Mohammad,' she said, 'He is | | | | author of any genre. You'll hook your readers and |
| 35 and dying of tuberculosis. I see him regularly | | | | keep them hooked right to the end of your letter. |
| and have to explain to him why we cannot treat | | | | You'll set before them a puzzle that they want to |
| him. I thought you should meet him.'" | | | | solve. If you can begin your appeal letters with a |
| There's the problem, clearly stated. Patients are | | | | corpse discovered in the back parlour, all the |
| dying of a treatable disease. But why are the | | | | better. |
| patients dying? Why aren't they being treated? | | | | © 2006 Sharpe Copy Inc. |
| You must continue the letter to find out. | | | | |