Arts/Environment • Letter Templates

Example Letter #1

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A few weeks ago, we sent you a complimentary calendar created especially for friends of The Doe Center for the Performing Arts.

You may recall that, along with your special gift, we included an urgent request for your help with our Special Matching Grant Appeal for (year).

If you have already sent your contribution, please accept my warmest thanks for your generosity.

But if you have not yet had a chance to respond, or if you misplaced my original letter, I urge you to take a moment right now to help The Doe Center for the Performing Arts reach its $300,000 goal for the Special Appeal.

Whether you enjoy theater, contemporary dance, musicals, ballet, jazz, or classical music, you know you can depend on us to provide you with the finest in cultural arts.

And as I mentioned earlier, ticket sales alone only cover 70% of our costs. We have to rely upon friends like you to help make up the difference.

That's why I hope I can count on you to send a generous gift of $100 today.

Your additional support, above and beyond your annual contribution to The Doe Center for the Performing Arts Membership, will help us offer the finest in the performing arts making our productions available, accessible, and affordable to everyone.

Please keep in mind that every $2 of your gift will be matched with $1 from the (name) Foundation, thanks to their generous matching gift program. Your $50 contribution is actually worth $75...your $100 contribution is worth $150!

Thanks to supporters like you, we're reaching beyond the walls of The Doe Center for the Performing Arts to bring the performing arts to all people. (List services that cannot continue without donations.)

Although these productions are free for the audience, they are not free for The Doe Center for the Performing Arts--they cost a great deal of money. That's why I'm counting on you to send a generous gift today.

The fact is, without help from friends like you, we cannot maintain our high artistic and professional standards and continue to bring the world's most accomplished performers to our center every day.

So please send your gift to our Special Matching Grant Appeal (year) today. Together, we can look forward to a very special season that brings the magic of the performing arts to you and to many others.

Example Letter #2

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The Doe Arts Center

M E M B E R S H I P

By now, you should have received your set of Note Cards, created exclusively for Doe Arts Center supporters like you.

As of this writing, we're still counting on you to send a gift of $100 for this year's Matching Grant Appeal. We are fortunate that the Stevens Family Foundation has agreed to match every $2 you contribute with an additional $1, magnifying the impact of your gift.

We still need $130,000 to reach our goal this year. Your generous gift today will help us continue to offer the world's finest ballet and music.

Remember, ticket sales defray only 60% of the Doe Arts Center's performance costs, and federal appropriations cover only the maintenance of the building and grounds.

So we really need your help. Please take a moment right now to mail your contribution. If you have sent a gift, and our letters have crossed in the mail, please accept our thanks for your generosity.

P.S. Remember, the Stevens Family Foundation has generously offered to donate $1 for every $2 you give, so your gift will have an even bigger impact on our performing arts. For example, if you give $50 the Stevens Family Foundation will donate an additional $25. Please give generously today. Thank you!

Example Letter #3

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I am writing to you today because I'm convinced you care--more than most--about what your family watches on television. You care about quality. You share an interest in having the medium of television be more than mindless entertainment. And my hope is that you are willing to help make that difference a reality.

In 1927, Philo T. Farnsworth invented the first television tube. In the words of his widow:

"Philo saw television as a marvelous teaching tool. There would be no excuse for illiteracy. Parents could learn along with their children. Symphonies would mean more when one could see the musicians as they played. He said there would be a time when we would be able to see and learn about people in other lands. If we understood them better, he believed, differences could be settled around the conference table, without going to war."

In short, Philo T. Farnsworth saw television as a force for good, as a powerful ally in the war against ignorance, as a means to lift and inspire. This is exactly the mission of Public Television--to lift and inspire, educate and entertain.

Because I'm convinced that you share Philo Farnsworth's dream of what television ought to be and that you would be willing to support something that has such a positive impact on you, your family, and your community--I am writing to ask that you become an active member of Public Television.

Being a viewer is great. We're glad you recognize the quality of our programming and the value of what we do. But now, more than ever, we need your active support so that we can continue bringing you the quality, family-oriented programming you've come to expect from Public Television.

So, I hope you will consider a tax-deductible contribution in an amount that reflects the value that Public Television has to you and your family--whether that amount is $120, $60, or basic membership at $40 per year.

Thank you in advance for your generous demonstration of support and your help in carrying out Philo Farnsworth's dream.

P.S. For your convenience, I've enclosed a response card and self-addressed envelope.

Television can be a force for good

Example Letter #4

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Save the Blue Spruce from deadly beetles!

Did you know that various species of beetles are consuming over 1,000 acres of Blue Spruces a week? While this tree was once plentiful in various forests, now its corpses lie in heaps. And, if nothing is done to help save the Blue Spruce, none will remain by the year (date).

At Save the Blue Spruce Foundation, we're taking action now to assure this beautiful tree will be here tomorrow. Now you can help.

Your contribution goes directly to fund educational and scientific programs that will protect the North America's Blue Spruce forests and ensure its expansion.

With your support, we can make breakthroughs that will make the difference between plentiful forests and extinction.

I am asking you today to please help Save the Blue Spruce. With your gift, we can make great progress toward the survival of this magnificent tree this year.

I urge you to send in your generous gift. We'll send you FREE a beautiful Blue Spruce key chain to thank you for your goodwill.

Please, fill in the attached pledge card and mail it today.

Thank you.

Example Letter #5

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Recently, the Doe Foundation asked if I would help them in a special neighborhood fund-raising campaign called "Neighborhood Survival."

I said "yes" right away.

You see, I know the Doe Foundation represents the people who helped with the flood victims last year. Today, they are helping people from rural Mexico to our own neighborhood boundaries.

Will you join Neighborhood Survival by making a donation today to Doe Foundation?

Give whatever you can afford...$5, $10, $20 or even more if you can. Just make out your check to Doe Foundation. Then return it to me in the enclosed envelope, and I'll forward it to Doe Foundation.

A full 80% of every dollar received will go towards services that will benefit our neighborhood and other neighborhoods like ours across the country.

Together we can make a difference. So please give generously. Thank you.

P.S. Gifts to the Doe Foundation are tax deductible as charitable contributions.

Example Letter #6

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I hope you are enjoying the Jensen Center for the Arts full-color calendar that we sent you a few days ago. The calendar lists all of our scheduled events for the coming year and contains coupons for various businesses in the area. We sent this calendar as a thank-you gesture to our many friends and contributors who have helped support the wide range of cultural events that we make available to the public.

We work to keep our admission prices for vocal performances, concerts, plays, and musicals as low as possible to encourage people to come and see what we have to offer in classical entertainment. Consequently, what we take in at the ticket booth does not always cover maintenance expenses such as heating and lighting, printing programs, cleaning, etc. Providing the Center with quality entertainers and musicians creates additional expenses.

The Patrician Players' performances of "A Midsummer's Dream" last month was a great success and our audiences almost exceeded our seating capacity. Unfortunately, the cost of hiring this nationally acclaimed group of Shakespearean actors, coupled with our maintenance expenses, has created our first real deficit. That is why we are happy to tell you about a great new boost to our annual Jensen Center for the Arts Fund Drive.

This year we have been offered a way to actually double every contribution that is made to us. Several businesses in the area have pooled their resources and created a Performing Arts Fund to support the cultural events in our area. They have informed us that they intend to match, dollar-for-dollar, every contribution that is sent to us in this year's fund drive. We would, therefore, like to ask you to repeat the $50 donation that you sent us last year, which will result in a net sum of $100 to the center. If possible, we would like to have your check by April 30 so that we can plan our summer program without worrying about going over our heads financially again.

We want to thank you for your generous support! I hope you know that as a valued member of the Jensen Center for the Arts, you are not only entitled to a calendar, but to a 50% discount on all upcoming performances. Enclosed is your admission card, which entitles you to a 50% reduction in ticket prices for all events in the coming year. Also enclosed is a stamped envelope for you to send us your much-needed contribution. Won't you make your check out to the "Jensen Center for the Arts" today?

Thanks again for promoting the growth of classical entertainment in this area!

P.S. If you can't send us $50 now, could you send us at least $25? You are still welcome to use your admission card, entitling you to a 50% discount on tickets to all upcoming events.

Example Letter #7

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Re: Save our Resources GSP

Where are our children learning how to protect our forests, our wildlife, and our bodies of water? Not in our schools! If children in kindergarten through high school learn anything about protecting our environment, it is usually in non-formal programs outside traditional classroom instruction. Every year, volunteers for the Save Our Resources Grade School Program (GSP) work to fill that gap and teach conservation awareness to grade school students in the tri-state area.

The Save our Resources GSP is pleased to announce the beginning of its 10th year of working toward making environmental education accessible to the students of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Thanks to our program, students here have the opportunity to participate in fun learning activities while they become educated in environmental issues and learn how to protect our drinking water, our forests, our wildlife and the air that we breathe. We plan to continue our mission of promoting environmental awareness among our youth, but we need your help!

The Save our Resources GSP is currently seeking contributions from citizens who have an understanding of crucial environmental issues and who would be willing to support our efforts. Your tax-deductible donation of $50.00 or more will be used to help fund our field trips and provide students with learning materials that will teach them conservation strategies. The student you help educate today can become tomorrow's legislator who is working to support clean air and water!

We are grateful for your support. Please make your check out to Save our Resources GSP. Enclosed is a stamped envelope for your convenience. Thank you for helping us to promote environmental awareness! We need to begin organizing our first summer field trip, so we would like to receive your contribution by May 1.

P.S. If you can't send $50 at this time, could you send us just $25? This will help put gas in the bus when we take our students for a tour of Conneaut Lake in June!