Write Fundraising Letter Overlines That Donors Can't Resist (Includes Samples & Examples)

Write Fundraising Letter Overlines That Donors Can't Resist (Includes Samples & Examples)Author: Alan SharpeWrite Fundraising Letter Overlines That Donors Can't Resist The headline that appears over the salutation in a fundraising letter is known as the overline. Overlines have one goal: to persuade your donor to read your letter. According to direct mail copywriter and author Hershell Gordon Lewis, the best kind of overline to use in a one-to-one piece of communication like a fundraising letter is a hand-written overline, one that looks like a spontaneous burst of enthusiasm. Hand-written overlines, says Lewis, should not look "produced." I agree. Your goal, then, if you decide to use an overline, is to work up more enthusiasm in your readers than your letter can generate without the overline. Here are some guidelines to follow. Don't give too much away The goal of your overline, like the goal of your envelope teaser copy, is to arrest attention and arouse curiosity. The quickest way to depress enthusiasm in your readers is to ask them for a gift right up front in your overline. Or to say that you will be asking them for a gift later on in the letter. Don't give too much away. So instead of writing this: Your gift today will help us stop gun violence. Write this: How do you keep a pistol out of the hands of a 12 year old? Make the reader want to continue reading You want to intrigue your reader, tease your reader into reading your opening sentence, then your second sentence, right on through to the end.

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