Writing Your Inspiring Message - Your Story Can Inspire Others to Give

Rally for Research

Writing Your Inspiring Message - Your story can inspire others to give.

Fundraising is the gentle art of teaching the joy of giving. - Hank Rosso, one of the most beloved and respected gurus in the fund raising field, and recognized as the person who has most shaped present fund raising practice and theory.

A successful message has three main components.

1 Your Story Your story may have many facets. It can include one or more of the following:

 Finding a cure and better treatments for diabetes is important to you. This can include a personal story about your own experience with diabetes and the daily struggles. Here you can include your story about how and why you decided to participate in the Rally for Research campaign and what it means to you. You can talk about how you wanted to make it even more meaningful by raising money and now you want to share that opportunity with others.

 You believe that curing diabetes is good for everyone

Here you can talk about the scope and impact of diabetes, setting the stage for why everyone might have a reason to want to find a cure. Here are some facts and quotes you could use.

The Scope of Diabetes  Nearly 26 million Americans have diabetes (8.3 percent of the population)  Diabetes currently affects 366 million people worldwide and is expected to affect 552 million by 2030 The Cost of Diabetes  Diabetes is one of the costliest chronic diseases  Diabetes costs $174 billion each year to treat  Americans with diabetes incur medical expenses that are approximately 2.3 times higher than those incurred by Americans without diabetes The Impact of Diabetes  Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, non traumatic lower limb amputations, and new cases of blindness among adults in the United States  Diabetes is a major cause of heart disease and stroke  Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States

2 Why JDRF and Why NOW?

Tell your readers that today you are reaching out to them to raise money to support diabetes research to cure, treat and one day prevent diabetes. About JDRF JDRF has a vision of world without diabetes – a costly and life threatening disease that plagues millions of people. In order to achieve this vision, JDRF is the leading global organization focused on diabetes research. Driven by passionate, grassroots volunteers connected to children, adolescents, and adults with this disease, JDRF is the largest charitable supporter of diabetes research in the world. The goal of JDRF is to improve the lives of every person affected by type 1 diabetes by accelerating progress on the most promising opportunities for curing, better treating, and preventing the disease. JDRF was created—and is still led—by people with a personal connection to diabetes. Today, volunteers at JDRF’s more than 100 locations worldwide remain the driving force behind our activities. That gives us an unrelenting passion and commitment to find a cure—and, in the near term, better treatments—for people with diabetes.

3 Ask for a gift!

Now is the time in your letter where you will ask your readers to consider a gift. Here are some words you can use.

The Rally for Research campaign is my opportunity to give you the opportunity to support this important cause by making a gift. You can feel really good about the gift you give. JDRF spends over 80% of its dollars directly on the mission (as compared to the 60-75% spent by many other charities). They are laser focused on their mission and your dollars will be used wisely and effectively. A gift of any amount is important to the mission – every dollar matters. I am personally trying to raise $5000 for diabetes research to cure and better treat this horrible disease. Your gift helps me achieve this goal. Thank you for consideration. And thanks for your support of my efforts.

Don’t forget to tell them the ways they can give – “click to make an on-line donation.” If you select the option “Include link to your fund raising page” (make sure that is checked) when you set up your page, then the link will be included in your e-mail and your readers can just click.

But don’t forget that you can’t e-mail some people and some people don’t like to donate on line. Tell them they can send a check. Checks can be mailed to you and then you can mail them to the office or you can ask folks to mail directly to the JDRF office; however, you will want to tell them to put your name in the memo line (or include a note with your name) so we can input them into your fund raising campaign.

The JDRF office address where checks for Rally for Research will be collected: JDRF MinnDakotas 3001 Metro Drive, Suite 100 Bloomington, MN 55425

And don’t hesitate to ask you readers to forward your message on to others who might be interested in giving!

See how easy that was! Your message is complete and you are on your way to raising funds to cure diabetes. Thanks for all your hard work!