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THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH "ORGAN" LETTER
An even shorter letter than the Reader's Digest "Two Pennies" letter is perhaps the greatest fundraising
letter of all time. It was written for The First Baptist Church of Dayton, Ohio, by a member
of the Direct Marketing Hall of Fame, John Yeck. He tells this story about the letter:
■ I'm not a member of The First Baptist Church, though some of my friends are. One
of these was cochairman of a committee to raise $80,000 for a new church organ.
He and the committee thought that would be easy enough. They first identified every
substantial giver to the church. They broke down the $80,000, decided how much
each member could be expected to give, divided the pledge cards among the committee
members, and went calling.
Only trouble was, after they'd exhausted their lists, they had managed to raise a little
less than $50,000. So they called and asked me to prepare a series of three letters
to go out to the "rest" of the congregation.
The first of these letters was the classic "organ" letter. It brought in $40,000 — more than enough
to finish paying for the organ, and eliminating the need for the two follow-up letters originally
planned. It also won the cherished Gold Mailbox award from the Direct Marketing Association,
and was circulated and reprinted all over the country. But this additional circulation hasn't pulled
a single additional penny for The First Baptist Church's organ fund.
"There's nothing surprising about that," John Yeck says. "These admirers of the letter wouldn't
have sent any money if they had received the letter when it was originally mailed. The correct
mailing list for this letter was made up of members of The First Baptist Church, as no one else
was likely to be affected. That's the way it is with mailing lists. You'd better have the right people
on them."
Excellent advice for anyone using direct mail letters for any purpose.
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