LetterAgent
Mail physical letters by just asking your AI assistant.
Home > Guides > Nonprofit fundraising letters
Yes: mailed fundraising letters work, especially for older donors. One that works tells a story about one person, makes one specific ask tied to an outcome, and gives a way to reply. Caveat: LetterAgent letters can't carry a reply envelope or inserts, so print the reply path (phone number, URL, or QR code) in the letter.
Because the mailbox is the quietest channel left. Email inboxes are a war zone; a physical letter gets picked up, opened, and read: especially by older donors, who give more per gift and prefer paper. A letter also has a physical afterlife: it sits on the kitchen counter, gets shown to a spouse, gets reread. Tangibility is the advantage; a letter is harder to ignore than the two-hundredth email of the day.
One story, one ask, one reply path. Open with a specific person in a specific moment ("Amina, 9, arrived at the shelter on a Tuesday night with a backpack and nothing else"), not statistics about the problem. Then make one specific ask tied to one outcome: "$75 covers a week of meals for a family of four." Vague asks get vague responses. Close with exactly how to give, printed in the letter itself: a phone number, a donation URL, or a QR code. Fundraisers have long treated the P.S. as a second headline, so restate the ask there: "P.S. Your $75 before December 31 feeds a family for a week."
Two, and you should plan around both. First, LetterAgent letters can't carry a reply envelope, inserts, or a tear-off donation form: it's the letter and nothing else, so the reply path has to live in the letter text. Print the phone number, URL, or QR code large enough to use without squinting. Second, each recipient is a separate letter and a separate job, so a 5,000-name mailing is 5,000 jobs; that's fine for a targeted appeal, but it's not bulk-rate postage. Test the letter on a small segment of your list before you mail the whole thing.
Late November to early December. Year-end giving is driven by the tax calendar in both the US and Canada: donors want this year's gift on this year's return, so the biggest appeal of the year belongs in mailboxes before mid-December. And whatever you send, follow every gift with a prompt thank-you; a mailed thank-you that includes the receipt details doubles as the official donation receipt donors need at tax time, and thanked donors give again.
| Part of the letter | Its job | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | One specific person, one specific moment | "Amina, 9, arrived at the shelter on a Tuesday night with a backpack and nothing else." |
| The ask | One amount tied to one outcome | "$75 covers a week of meals for a family of four." |
| Reply path | How to give, printed in the letter itself | Phone number, donation URL, or QR code |
| P.S. | Restate the ask: many readers scan it first | "P.S. Your $75 before December 31 feeds a family for a week." |
Ready to mail it? Send your letter with LetterAgent: describe it to your AI assistant, approve the exact quoted price, and it's printed and mailed.
LetterAgent is a working name. Prices include print, postage, and our service fee. US prices in USD, Canadian prices in CAD (Canadian prices exclude applicable sales tax, added at checkout). Currently in private testing.
Need help? Ask your assistant: it can check a job's status any time. If it ever can't handle something: hello@getletteragent.com