Craft a Fundraising Appeal
In Cordoba, Spain, one enterprising itinerant was in the habit of setting out 3 hats, with a sign next to each: "Money for food"; "Money for beer"; and "Money for drugs". His multi-channel appeal did better than average, as different audiences donated based on their own proclivities. (An NTEN staffer merely recorded the anecdote, for eventual use as an example of how to connect with those who may not be predisposed to give you money. Besides, his beer money had already been spent.)
When you start to think about your next fundraising letter, you should follow the example of Marc Pitman: print out and analyze your past appeals. Who is your message targeting? Are you talking about yourself, or connecting to your potential donors? (Just, please, don't ask yourself, "What would happen if the author of The Da Vinci Code wrote your next fundraising appeal?" Other than that, Alan Sharpe's advice is pretty decent.)
There are other things to consider, such as paper size (for traditional mailings). No, really: we recently saw an appeal from a major presidential campaign composed of two letters, including one from the V.P. hopeful on a shorter piece of paper, folded so the headers of both letters were immediately visible. Brilliant!
As for writing the actual letter, Tom Ahern suggests appealing to 4 different sides of your donors' personalities: the amiable, the expressive, the skeptical, and the bottom-liner. About.com's fundraising site has more advice.
Raise Money Online
If you're tying your fundraising campaign to your website, you certainly need a way to process donations, be that Google Checkout, PayPal, Network for Good, or something a little different, like FirstGiving.
But you can go beyond that. Peter Deitz writes about the "Top 5 Ways to Raise Money Online" and the Wild Apricot blog as some excellent "Tips to Manage your Year-End Fundraising Campaigns".
If you have some free time, spend it browsing through Firstgiving's Online Fundraising Blog or Network for Good's Fundraising123.com. You could also take a little inspiration from Beth Kanter's 51st Birthday Challenge. Oh, and then there's this little thing called Facebook. Apparently, it's possible to raise money there.
(Not) Lose Friends and Alienate People
Alright, we've covered some of the good advice out there. Now let's take a look at what not to do.
First, don't forget to proofread. If you're writing a top 10 list (in this case, on how to write a fundraising letter), make sure you actually have 10 items. Also, try not to overwrite. From a report on "How (Not) to Raise Money" (PDF): "Revenues are suppressed as a result and remain finite even when bidders value a dollar donated the same as a dollar kept." What?
Since many of your constituents probably have their own blogs now, try not to say anything that will make them post your letter as an example of what not to do. They will hang you out to dry.
Finally, it's probably not a good idea to encourage your staff to engage in physical stunts in conjunction with a campaign (PDF) : "This week six hospital staff were hurt in a sponsored charity parachute jump... They raised a few hundred pounds altogether, but including locum costs the notional expense of treating them was about £20 000."