A Compelling Case for Monthly Giving

The letter concludes with a postscript that nicely restates the offer and the ask:

"P.S. When you sponsor a child through Plan USA, your support is invested in projects 
like schools and medical care and safe drinking water that provide the infrastructure for a 
better life.

"And the life your sponsorship changes most of all might very well be your own. From the photo we'll send of your sponsored child right away, to the correspondence you'll be able to begin, to the updates we'll provide to you on our work in his or her community, your sponsorship will be the beginning of an inspiring and personal relationship.

"Right now, thousands of children are waiting for precisely that. For one of them — for the child who's waited longest — you can make today the beginning of a new life filled with the hope they've been denied too long. Please become a Plan USA sponsor today."

Solid ending to the letter, but I'd skip the first paragraph and focus on the relationship rather than how the money will be spent — there's more than enough copy about that all over page three.

Next, a four-color insert on glossy stock offers pictures and more children's stories under the headline, "Somewhere a Child Waits …" continuing the theme. It's curiously blank on the back, though. That space could be used to tell the stories of more children or perhaps for testimonials from sponsors about how their sponsored children changed the donors' lives in wonderful ways.

The reply card includes check boxes for my preferences about the child I'll sponsor with "The child who has been waiting the longest" topping the list. It also offers options to pay monthly, quarterly, semiannually or annually by credit card or check, and an "I cannot sponsor a child but would like to help" with a $25, $35, $50, $100 ask array. And at the very bottom, "I would like to learn more about sponsorship. Please send me information about the child I could sponsor."