| American Life League Associates Newsletter
June 16, 2008
Vol. 5, No. 25
From Associates
- Pharmacists for Life International – One of the missions of PFLI is to provide low-cost, prescription-grade prenatal vitamins to pregnancy help centers so they can assist women who cannot afford prenatal care on their own. PFLI has also donated thousands of these same vitamins annually to medical missions in different parts of the developing world. PFLI has performed this apostolate since its inception in 1984 – over 24 years – absorbing the shipping costs of this service for all these years. Yet the cost of the product, and especially the shipping, has risen dramatically in recent years. PFLI needs help to continue this ministry.
PFLI has been given an extraordinary opportunity to make a difference by being granted a one-time discount by its wholesale supplier on a vitamin order of any size. However, PFLI only has a short time to respond. PFLI would love to buy thousands of bottles of these vitamins to help women who have chosen life, but it needs your material support to do so. If you can help PFLI with a donation, please visit www.pfli.org/shop. And thank you!
- California Right to Life Educational Fund – CRTL would like to remind California residents – and those of you who have family and friends there – about the Rally for Life on Wednesday, June 18 at 11:30 AM on the west steps of the State Capitol, to demand the elimination of tax funding for Planned Parenthood. For more information see, www.california4life.org or call the Coalition for Women and Children at 916-955-1577
Tip of the month – Fundraising
from Eighty-six Tutorials on Creating Fundraising Letters & Packages by Jerry Huntsinger
How to Design a Fundraising Letter
Letters are not supposed to be pretty or attractive, large or small, long or short, colorful or stylish – they are supposed to be read. That's all. The function of art in a fundraising letter is to 1) provide a design to ensure readership and 2) organize the distinctive elements of the letter. You are the creator; you must control and dictate the layout of the letter. The motivational techniques you employ will be visual as well as verbal. In brief, the letter should stand out in the mailing piece as a distinctive personal message. Whether you design the letter yourself or work with an artist, you must end up with a letter that really looks like a letter.
Have these things in mind before you begin writing the letter:
a. How much material you have at hand to put in the letter,
b. Whether it is to be personalized or a form letter,
c. The type of person who will be reading the letter, and
d. The type of format most apt to motivate the reader.
If the letter is to be personalized, it will probably be two pages or less, with a more conservative look. If the mailing is to be mass-produced and reach a mass audience, it will probably be more than two pages with a format that will put an emotional story or picture right up front.
The Six Vital Elements:
- Date line – Design your letter so the date is a dominant feature at the top of the letter; don't abbreviate the month. A specific date increases personalization.
- Name and address – A letter, to be personal, must be addressed to someone. The name and address usually appear at the top of the page. In a form letter, you can often place a headline and still maintain the "look" of a letter. In either case, the space involved must be blocked out and separated from all other copy. For a headline, use underlining, not all capital letters. A three of four line headline is usually best for balance.
- Dear Somebody – Once in a while you can omit the "Dear Friend" in a form letter, but it's rare.
- Body copy – Don't crowd things; make it easy for the reader to move along. Use a good large typewriter type (your donors are mostly folks who wear glasses).
- Signature – This traditionally falls in the lower right-hand corner; don't crowd it. Don't use too many sweet words. "Sincerely" or "Sincerely yours" is adequate.
- Postscript – Keep the P.S. in a prominent position.
You may be wondering "What about the letterhead? The logo? The board? The return address?" Forget them, for the present. That "certain look" includes six features – no more, no less. Your entire design problem is to make these six features give your letter a genuine look.
And when you utilize them effectively, you can find a place for your logo, board names, pictures and all sorts of good things.
Next month: Principles of Layout
News
In April, the annual report for Planned Parenthood Federation of America revealed that the abortion giant had a total income of $1.02 billion – with reported profits of nearly $115 million. Taxpayers kick in more than $336 million worth of government grants and contracts at both the state and federal levels. That's a third of Planned Parenthood's budget. And what market-distorting results do we get for those government incentives? In 2006 alone: 289,750 abortions.
The American abortion lobby claims to be an equal-opportunity abortion provider, looking out for the needs and wants of all women. Not so. Big Abortion devotes an inordinate amount of attention to Blacks, Hispanics, and Alaska Natives who, in proportion to their population, have the highest abortion rates in America. Now, eager to add another scalp to its collection, it is turning its sights on Native Americans.
No one noticed when "Auburn Avenue Parking" decided to move into Cincinnati. Turns out, the parking garage was just a front for Planned Parenthood.
As Brazil considers permitting abortion for anencephalic babies, the story of just such a child who has lived for a year and a half and who smiles, responds to sounds and cries when her mother is away, is pulling the rug out from under the pro-abortion arguments.
In what may be the earliest in utero surgery of its kind, Australian surgeons are being credited with saving the legs of a 22-week-old preborn baby.
In Australia, scientists are experiencing the sweet smell of success with nasal stem cells that could one day help cure Parkinson's disease.
Large strides have been made in the field of stem cell research – while avoiding the use of embryonic stem cells. One such example occurred in Colorado last Tuesday. A spinal surgeon completed the first disc surgery in the U.S. using adult (somatic) stem cells to repair a man's lower back.
Researchers and doctors have used adult stem cells to successfully treat two-year-old Nate Liao, who had a rare, fatal skin disease called recessive dystrophic epidermolysis.
Closing thought
Protect me, O God; I trust in You for safety. I say to the Lord, "You are my Lord; all the good things I have come from You." How excellent are the Lord's faithful people! My greatest pleasure is to be with them.
– Psalms 16:1-3
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