How Stephen King’s writing tips can help you craft a compelling fundraising appeal letter

If you need to write an appeal letter for your nonprofit organization, you probably wouldn’t consider Stephen King to be a resource. But his book titled On Writing includes some gems that are applicable to fundraisers, too.

Here are 5 tips from Stephen King, the King of Horror, that you can use to draft and revise a compelling appeal letter:

Writing tip #1: Ask yourself “what if?”

A big “what if” question can help you focus and draft your appeal in a way that inspires donors. If you’re Stephen King, that question could be, “What if zombies took over a town in New England?” For your work, the question probably looks more like:

• What if we raise enough money to expand our after-school program to serve more children?
• What if we meet our fundraising goal and can deliver library books to senior citizens each week?

Writing tip #2: Read a lot

Read appeals from other organizations. What do you find effective? Where do you lose interest? You might find it most useful to check out appeals from nonprofits doing work that isn’t similar to the work of your organization. That way, you won’t be reading as an insider and you’ll see if it truly resonates with you.

Writing tip #3: Keep the vocabulary simple

Your appeal letter needs to be easy to read and shouldn’t make the recipient feel like an outsider. That means avoiding jargon as well as the temptation to complicate the language just for the sake of it. As Stephen King says, “Make yourself a solemn promise right now that you’ll never use ‘emolument’ when you mean ‘tip’”.

Writing tip #4: Plan time for two drafts and a polish

Don’t expect to write a polished appeal letter on your first try. Give yourself enough time to write a first draft and set it aside for a week or so. When you re-visit it with fresh eyes, you’ll have an easier time revising. Once you’ve revised the letter, give yourself another little break before it’s time to polish and proofread it.

Writing tip #5: Follow the Rewrite Formula

You’ll likely lose a reader’s interest if your appeal letter is long. Your first draft helps you get your thinking down, and while that’s a crucial step it means your first draft is typically wordier than it needs to be. So when you’re working on the second draft, follow the rewrite formula that King finds effective:  “2nd draft = 1st draft – 10%.” Slashing sentences and unnecessary words will help you craft a concise letter.

Conclusion

You can use Stephen King’s writing tips to draft, revise, and polish an appeal letter that engages your donors and helps you reach your fundraising goals.