What to do when you don't have addresses

Hi, Kim:

We urgently need to put out our first fundraising letter ever but only have email addresses for people (and in some cases, phone numbers). Should we send a nice looking letter by email, then follow up by phone, or should we just call to get the snail mail address, send the letter, then call again to try to schedule a face-to-face meeting?

~The Conundrums of Virtual Life

Dear Conundrum:

Just use the e-mail addresses you have for correspondence.  E-mail is mail, just sent over the internet instead of through the Post Office.  An advantage of e-mail is that you might be able to set up the meeting by e-mail.  Be sure to include a link so that people can give on-line at the time they get your e-mail.

For those people you know well enough, consider skipping the e-mail and phoning to set up a meeting.  And think about whether you really need to try to see all the people who you have e-mails for—you may want to segment to just the ones most likely to make a big gift.

Good luck!

~Kim Klein

Originally published in the Grassroots FundRaising Journal. FundRaiser users can subscribe at a special rate of $ 30/year by entering is "$30" in the coupon code field on the second page of the subscription process.

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