Goal: Practice writing two, one-page letters (very common ways of documenting requests and later, thanking the person/group involved) focusing on a specific audience or situation. The letters should be about one page, not more than two pages each. The pitch, or request, should showcase information on your group or organization that would be important to that audience. Here we’re using it to pitch an idea for a meeting, speaker, or to suggest the organization sponsor your organization’s future effort. The goal is a basic invitation or pitch to contribute to your group in some way.
You probably belong to one campus organization (maybe more). For this assignment, we’ll see how we can take basic information on one campus organization (near campus is OK, but it should be a relatively small group) and turn it into a tight, compelling one-page request or appeal to a specific audience you select. For this, the audience is key — it will be someone who knows little about campus and maybe nothing about your group. The pitch may be as simple as inviting the person as a speaker or requesting that the person/group sponsor an event or project that your own group is hosting. You can request assistance in the form of a donation of cash or volunteer effort for an event or program you are planning.
— Explain your group and what it does in ways that would be intriguing for the reader. This informational letter should:
Give an overview of your group, its mission and values. If you take this information from an existing group document, shape it around what this reader would value – don’t just copy and paste. As noted earlier, you may include an invitation, or some other forthcoming collaboration with this person or group, as the focus.
Explain in brief the key things that this group does on campus or in the community, that would appeal to this audience. For example, a civic group might want to know that you helped register voters on campus; a parks organization might be excited about a park cleanup your group was involved in.
Remember if you invite someone new to campus to an event, that person would appreciate specifics on date, time, location, parking, dress code if it’s in-person, and if the person is speaking, what issue(s) would be helpful for the group to know more about.
Donation requests or other, less certain concerns may close with a request to speak to the recipient to clarify options and details.
You may refer to a website but the letter should be good at encapsulating that information into a short, effective paragraph or two. It should also avoid boilerplate language — it should be clear when I read it that you’re aware of the facets of the group that this reader would understand and value.
Close with next steps: If the person wishes to speak at your event or donate to your future program, how should you be reached? Will you be following up by phone? These details count — they show you’re aware of what would be needed to “close the deal” in this particular case.
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Then, create a short thank-you note for that person or group. You can be creative here and details matter. Did the members show up early, offer help in setting up or clean up? Did the organization’s donation(s) make a specific difference in your work?
You might wonder how a thank you note fits in a modern business. It’s often a critical way to cement networking relationships or, as appropriate, suggest that a continuing relationship is beneficial to the recipient. A short, vague thank you letter suggests things about your approach that you’d rather not say. A thoughtful, more detailed approach shows you value this person/group for the speech, contribution, etc. You can guess which approach might give you a more solid chance of getting their support next time around.
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