Email Appeal Sample Text
Please edit at your discretion! Your personalization makes these messages much more meaningful.
June Ask (FY23)
Subject: Care-driven not deadline-driven
Dear name,
It’s the time of year when your inbox is flooded with “fiscal year-end” appeals, and I suspect the urgency around that is compelling only to fundraising professionals. I’m not that. What I am is an Amherst alum who cares deeply about a place and a community that benefited me in more ways than I can count.
Do you want to make an impact on students at Amherst? Part of my job as an Amherst Fund volunteer is to encourage you, my classmates and friends, to do that in an easy and immediate way. When you make a gift to the Amherst Fund, you support the fundamentals: outstanding faculty teaching small classes, financial aid without loans, hands-on learning opportunities, athletics and arts programs, student-led social events and sustainability projects, and a commitment to a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment. That’s where the urgency is—in sustaining the heart and soul of an Amherst education.
Your gifts matter, and together they add up in a big way. Each and every one strengthens the College and creates greater possibilities for today’s students.
There is a deadline for those who track goals and budgets, but I hope you choose to give because Amherst offered you a set of core values and a way of approaching your work in the world that you still draw on. That’s why I give and why I volunteer. You can contribute to the Amherst Fund here: engage.amherst.edu/give or via Venmo @AmherstFund.
Thanks for considering a gift to Amherst.
Sincerely,
Agent name
General Ask (FY23)
Subject: What did you gain at Amherst?
Dear name,
Amherst is more than an on-campus community. It’s a community that encompasses all of us who believe in it, benefited from it, and care about its future. While life has carried most of us away from that little hilltop in the Valley, our engagement and support help to form a multi-generational network united by a set of core values: critical thinking, persistent questioning, freedom of inquiry and expression, equity, civility, and friendship. We alumni are essential to the College’s strength.
The heart and soul of an Amherst education have not changed over time—and neither has the role of alums in caring for today’s students. When we give to the Amherst Fund, we’re supporting the fundamentals: outstanding faculty teaching small classes, financial aid without loans, hands-on learning opportunities, athletics and arts programs, student-led social events and sustainability projects, and a commitment to a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment.
Will you join me in making a gift to the Amherst Fund to honor and celebrate what we gained at Amherst? Here is the link to make a gift online: engage.amherst.edu/give or via Venmo @ Amherst Fund.
Together, we can make a collective impact that keeps the far-reaching Amherst community connected and strong, now and in the future.
Sincerely,
Agent name
1821 Ask (FY23)
Subject: What did you gain at Amherst?
Dear name,
Amherst is more than an on-campus community. It’s a community that encompasses all of us who believe in it, benefited from it, and care about its future. We alumni are essential to the College’s strength.
Gifts at the 1821 Society level and above have the greatest impact on today’s students, making up 80% of the Amherst Fund total dollars raised. This kind of leadership giving reinforces a multi-generational network of support and sustains the fundamentals of an Amherst education—outstanding faculty teaching small classes, financial aid without loans, hands-on learning opportunities, athletics and arts programs, student-led social events and sustainability projects, and a commitment to a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment.
I’m hoping you’ll join me in honoring and celebrating what you gained at Amherst with a leadership-level gift (that’s $500+ for the classes of 2018 - 2022; $1,000+ for 2013 - 2017, and $,1821 for all other alumni) to the Amherst Fund. Here is the link to make a gift online: engage.amherst.edu/give or via Venmo @ Amherst Fund.
Together, our support keeps the far-reaching Amherst community connected and strong, now and in the future.
Sincerely,
Agent name
Thank You (FY23)
Subject: Grateful for classmates like you
Dear name,
Thank you so much for your gift to the Amherst Fund this year. I meant it when I wrote that our engagement and support make Amherst an especially strong community. Thanks for contributing to the strength and health of a place we both value—it means a lot to me and makes a real difference for current students. I’m grateful to have classmates like you.
With gratitude,
Agent name