Donation request letter template you can send this week

A donation request letter works when it does three things in the first paragraph: names one specific need, states an ask amount, and tells the donor what their gift pays for. Everything else in the letter supports those three facts or it gets cut.

Every development director knows the version of this that goes wrong. The letter goes out to the full mailing list with a general appeal to “support our mission,” gifts trickle in below what the campaign needed, and nobody can say afterward whether the letter or the time of year did the work. A donation request letter aimed at a specific need, sent to the right list, with a clear ask amount, performs differently, and it is worth building once as a template you reuse.

Below is a donation request letter template you can copy, the parts that make a donor act instead of setting it aside, and a short plan for tracking who gave and who still needs a follow-up.

Key Takeaways
– A donation request letter needs one specific need, one ask amount, and a plain statement of what the gift pays for, all in the opening paragraph.
– Nonprofits Source reports a direct mail response rate of about 5.3% on a nonprofit’s own donor list, against 2.9% on a purchased or prospect list, so the list matters as much as the letter.
– Nonprofits can state that a gift is tax deductible; political campaigns cannot, and campaigns face contribution limits that a letter cannot override.
– A reply device (a card, a QR code to a donation page, or both) belongs in the envelope, not buried in the letter’s last line.

What a donation request letter needs to say

A donation request letter is a written appeal that asks a donor or list for a gift toward a named need. A thank-you letter does the opposite job: it closes out a gift already given. The two share a mailing list and a layout, which is why they get confused, but swapping one for the other costs you gifts.

The letter needs four things in order:

1. The need, named specifically (“25 winter coats for the shelter,” not “our mission”).
2. The ask amount, tied to that need (“$35 covers one coat”).
3. What happens next if the donor gives (how the money gets used, by when).
4. A reply device the donor can act on immediately.

Skip any of the four and the letter asks for less than it should.

The donation request letter template

Copy this and adjust the bracketed parts. Keep the paragraphs short. A donor reads the first two sentences standing at the mailbox.

Dear [First Name],

[Organization name] is [X donors/clients/families] away from [specific, countable goal] by [date]. A gift of $[amount] covers [concrete unit: one coat, one week of meals, one hour of tutoring].

[One sentence naming who benefits and how, in plain terms. No statistics, one real situation.]

A gift of $[amount] is enough to [concrete outcome]. If you can give $[higher amount], it covers [larger outcome]. Either way, every gift we receive by [date] goes directly to [the need].

You can give using the enclosed card, or at [donation page URL]. [One sentence of thanks, no more.]

In your corner,
[Signer’s name and role]

Adapt the signer line to your organization’s voice; the structure above is what the format needs, not the wording.

How to pick the ask amount

An ask amount that maps to a real unit (one coat, one meal, one tutoring hour) outperforms a round number with no reference point. Pick two or three amounts, lowest first, each tied to something the donor can picture. If your donation page lets you set suggested amounts, match them to the letter so the two reinforce each other instead of asking for different things.

Where campaigns and nonprofits differ

Nonprofits and political campaigns both send donation request letters, and the format above works for either, but two things change depending on which one is sending it.

A nonprofit can tell a donor their gift is tax deductible. A political campaign cannot say that about a contribution. Campaign contributions also carry limits that differ by office and by state. Before a campaign finance director sends a fundraising letter, check the current limits with the FEC or the state’s campaign finance office. This post is not that source. A nonprofit development director can point curious donors to the IRS page on charitable contribution deductions instead of stating the rule directly.

Picking the list before the letter

The letter above works only on the right list. Nonprofits Source puts the direct mail response rate at about 5.3% on a nonprofit’s own donor list, against 2.9% on a purchased or prospect list, so a list of past donors is worth more than a longer list of strangers.

Sort donors by their last gift date and amount before you decide who gets which ask amount; a donor who gave $100 last year gets a different suggested amount than someone giving for the first time. In FundHero, Donor Profiles hold that giving history on one screen, and a Smart Group can pull everyone who gave in the last 12 months into its own list before you print a single letter.

Tracking who gave and who needs a follow-up

Once the letters go out, the work shifts to tracking replies. Log each gift against the donor’s record as it arrives, and build a Smart Group of everyone on the mailing list who has not yet responded by your cutoff date. Automatic Reminders turn that list into a task a volunteer can work through instead of a mental note someone forgets.

A donor who gives deserves a fast thank-you. Our post on the thank-you letter that earns the next gift covers that step, including the 48-hour rule and why the receipt and the thank-you are different documents. If this particular ask is a year-end appeal rather than a mid-year need, the year-end appeal letter template covers the deadline-driven version of this same letter.

FAQ

How long should a donation request letter be?
One page. A donor decides whether to give in the first two sentences, and a longer letter does not change that; it just gives the donor more to skim past.

What is the difference between a donation request letter and a thank-you letter?
A donation request letter asks for a gift toward a named need. A thank-you letter acknowledges a gift already given and names the amount, the date, and what it paid for. Combining the two into one letter weakens both jobs.

Should a donation request letter include a specific dollar amount?
Yes. An ask amount tied to a concrete unit, like “$35 covers one coat,” gives the donor something to decide on. A letter that asks for “whatever you can give” leaves the donor to pick a number with nothing to measure it against, and most people default low when that happens.

Can a political campaign use a donation request letter?
Yes, with two differences from a nonprofit’s version: the campaign cannot describe the contribution as tax deductible, and it has to stay inside contribution limits that differ by state and office. Check the current limits with the FEC or the state’s campaign finance office before the letter goes out.

Is a gift made through a donation request letter tax deductible?
For a nonprofit with 501(c)(3) status, yes, and the letter or receipt should say so. For a political campaign, no; a contribution to a candidate or committee is never tax deductible. The IRS page on charitable contribution deductions covers the nonprofit side in detail.

How do I know if the letter worked?
Track gifts against the specific appeal, not just against the date range, so you can compare this letter’s response rate to the last one. A Smart Group built from the mailing list, checked against who gave, gives you that number without a spreadsheet.

Send the letter, then work the list

A donation request letter earns a gift when it names one need, states an ask amount, and tells the donor exactly what their money does, all before the first paragraph ends. The template above gives you that structure; the list and the follow-up after the letter goes out decide how much of it turns into actual gifts.

Build the list first, sorted by giving history, and decide the ask amounts before you write a word. Then track replies against a cutoff date so the follow-up is a short, specific list instead of a guess at who to call. If you are doing this by hand across a spreadsheet and a mail merge, see how FundHero organizes donor history and follow-up (no payment info required to try it), or check pricing if you want the numbers first.