Why You're Failing at foundation box

[Lippard Carina]

Are you working in an understaffed agency with too much to do and not enough time or resources? Think twice before you regurgitate last year's annual appeal letter and call it a day.

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It's not too late to make some changes to ramp up this year's annual campaign.

First off, ask yourself a few questions:

Will you be mailing out your letters in-house or using a mail house? If you're using a mail house, what is their timeframe for getting the appeal out within your time frame?

Will you be segmenting your mailing? By that I mean will you be mailing the same appeal to your board members as to your donors?

Who will be signing the letter? In my opinion, you never want your development director signing your appeal letter. Depending upon the theme of your letter, the appropriate signer should be your Executive Director, CEO, Board Chair or even a volunteer.

How long will your letter be? You'd be surprised at what an issue this can become. Testing done by organizations far larger than any I have ever worked with consistently shows that longer letters perform better. Yet executive directors and your board of directors will be urging you to go with a one-page letter. Why? Who knows! The truth is that a compelling, 2-4 page letter will outperform a 1 page letter every time.

Note that I said "compelling."

What does make a compelling end of year appeal letter? What kind of letter makes the reader walk away from the trash basket, where they have been sorting their mail, sit down, read to the end and pull out their checkbook?

I'll give you a hint. You won't get that kind of letter by penning the kind of letter that every other nonprofit organization is sending out. You won't get it by bragging about your past accomplishes, by expressing your need for funding for next year's programming or by whining about the economy and its affect on your organization.

People respond to people. It's why they watch Oprah, it's why they open their wallets. Whatever your organization may be, it has so many amazing stories - use them! Don't be afraid either, depending upon the quality of your printing, of using a judicious photograph or two within the body of the letter. Photographs make a story come alive.

What will your reply device look like? Every direct mail piece needs a reply device. While you don't need to hire a graphic designer, you do need a piece that will replicate the donor's name and address and provide check off "ask" amounts.

What kind of return envelope will you use? Will you make your donor put a stamp foundation box printing on it? Or will you use a business reply indicia?

Five Tips to Ramp it Up

Southwest Utah is a pretty unique place to visit where the valley around Hurricane is just over 3,000 feet in elevation and just over a short drive one can be at elevations over 10,000 feet. With the diversity of the landscape, nearly every highway in all directions becomes a scenic byway. All within a short drive are National Parks and State Parks that can be visited in three different States, as well as local National Monuments and Museums which tell the story of early settlements.

Utah 143 is listed as a national scenic byway, yet its only 55 miles in length and resembles a high-altitude roller coaster, starting at 6,000 feet on the Western edge to elevations over 10,000 feet along the plateau and descending back to 6,500 feet on the Eastern slope. This very route was once a migration route used by Native American clans to leave their winter desert homes to summer hunting lands high in the mountains. Along the way is Brain Head Peak, the highest spot on the plateau at 11,307 feet which provides some spectacular skiing slopes. The north view of the colorful amphitheater of Cedar Monument is also along this route.

SR-14 connects US-89 to Cedar City along a 40-mile route known as Cedar Mountain. The byway passes through the Dixie National Forest with groves of Aspens and towering evergreens with an abundance of wildflowers, as well as lava rock. Crossing over the Southern side of the Markaqunt Plateau with elevations of 8,500 to 11,000 feet provides some spectacular overlooks of Zion national Park and out over the towering pine forests. Sitting at 9,200 feet is Navajo Lake, which viewed from the overlook high above it, makes for a picture-perfect crystal blue body of water framed with aspens and pines. Another photographic lake is Aspen Mirror Lake, which can be found about a half mile from the byway by a short drive down a dirt road and a short hike through an aspen grove. The most popular spot along this byway is Cascade Falls.

Reaching the falls is pretty easy and somewhat difficult. The easy part comes from the 3.5 miles of maintained unpaved road, yet very dusty. The hike to the falls becomes a little more difficult. The hike is just over a half mile one-way with steep inclines and descents, where the trail winds its way around the upper portion of a steep cliff; however, breath-taking vistas are along the entire trail. The falls is feed from Navajo Lake through cracks in the limestone bed and spurts out through a small cave high up on the cliff wall. The overlook is just a few feet from the cave and provides a spectacular view of the falls cascading 1000's of feet down the mountain and through the forest to Zion Narrows.

Connecting Utah 14 and Utah 143 is highway 148 known as Cedar Breaks Scenic Byway, which for seven miles highlights the Dixie National Forest and Cedar Breaks National Monument. At over 10,000 feet in elevation the Monument overlooks an amphitheater a half mile deep and three miles wide from rim to rim, where the walls have eroded into carved spirals with dazzling multi-colored rock formations where the colors of orange, coral, rose, and white glow from the reflection of the sun. The amphitheater sits amidst lush meadows of wildflowers and sub alpine forest where small stands of bristle cone pines grow around the rim. Cedar Breaks National Monument is one of America's special places with the crowning of the uppermost steps of the Grand Staircase and the wonderful views of the Great Basin Desert in the distance.

In between Zion Canyon and Kolob Canyon is the 21-mile steep and windy scenic drive into the mountains through lush forest known as the Kolob Terrace Road. The highway starts in the small community of Virgin passing by homes and farms as it winds its way in and out of Zion National Park and ends at Lava Point, one of the highest elevations in Zion Park at 7,890 feet, with views of the Cedar Breaks, Pink Cliffs, and the Zion Narrows.

Johnson Canyon Road starts just East of Kanab and travels for 18-miles along the Western side of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument with excellent views of the colorful cliffs of the Grand Staircase. Leaving US-89 behind Canyon Road passes by farm houses with horses grazing in fields with sandstone cliffs in the background before reaching the Old West set where Gun smoke was filmed. The film set is on private land but a good view of the dilapidated buildings can be seen from the highway. Eight miles in, the visual stimulus gets cranked up a notch as the highway starts the climb up the steep white cliffs which stands in contrast to the sage and Juniper trees below. After the 18 miles, one can take the dirt Glendale Bench Road for 15-miles back to North US-89 for quicker access to Utah 9.

The Northwest section of Zion National Park known as Kolob Canyon is located at exit 40 on Interstate 15, 40 miles North of Zion Canyon. The five-mile scenic drive one-way allows access to hiking trails and scenic overlooks. This stretch of road passes through a narrow parallel box of canyons cut into the Western edge of the Colorado Plateau with majestic peaks and 2,000-foot cliff walls. At the end of the byway is Timber Creek Overlook Trail. The trail is just over one-mile round-trip with a modest 100-foot elevation change. The trail follows a small ridge which provides spectacular views of the Pine Valley Mountains, Kolob Terrace, and the Kolob Canyons. At the end of the trail, looking to the South is MT. Trumbull at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon-Parasahant National Monument, some 100- miles away.

Utah State Route 9 starts at Mt. Carmel Junction on US-89 and ends just East of St George and is the access highway for the East and West entrance to Zion National Park, which showcases majestic mesa's and towering sandstone cliffs. Entering the park from the East the highway cuts through the Checkerboard Mesa area to towering cliffs where the colorful rock formations change around every corner and some are so close to the highway you can reach out and nearly touch them. Passing through the Pine Creek Canyon area the highway passes through a short tunnel before reaching the every so impressive 5,631-foot tunnel which cuts right through a towering red-rock cliff wall, where gallery-like windows offer quick views of the outside throughout the tunnel. Upon exiting the tunnel and driving the steep grade around the switchback, the pullout provides a majesty view of the towering cliffs with the windows in the side that will take your breath away. As the byway drops into the desert floor of the canyon, there are beautiful trees along the highway with streams of the Virgin river running parallel to the byway.

Visiting Grand Canyon National Park should never be complete without seeing the North Rim. Not many people venture to the North Rim, not because it's difficult to reach or such a short season, it's just so time consuming to get there. Once there, the views make the long drive worthwhile. The Cape Royal scenic drive is just over 21-miles on a narrow twisting road through groves of Aspen and Ponderosa Pines which climbs its way to the top of a mesa with several overlooks