Global Village Fundraising Handbook Page 16
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WRITING YOUR APPEAL LETTER
GLOBAL VILLAGE FUNDRAISING GUIDE
Sample Letter (more samples included in Appendix II)
Dear Pancho,
I hope you are doing well after the big move. I look forward to hearing about how life is in
New York. What a big change from Texas!
I am writing because in two months, I will embark on a trip to Guatemala with Habitat for
Humanity’s Global Village program. I was chosen as a member of a Global Village team that
will be building a home with a family in Sololá, a Mayan community of 80,000 people.
As I’ve started to learn more about the need in Guatemala, I have become even more pas-
sionate about this opportunity. Eighty percent of Guatemalans live in poverty and nearly 1.2 mil-
lion Guatemalan families lack a decent place to live. Children are growing up in poorly construct-
ed houses made of corrugated metal sheets, wood planks or palm tree branches. Some families
crowd into one room, where multiple families live together. Because it is nearly impossible for
even moderate-income people to get a loan in Guatemala, many families who have benefitted
from Habitat’s work say it is the only way they could even dream of building and owning a home.
Habitat for Humanity Guatemala has been in existence since 1979 and has served more
than 35,000 Guatemalan families in need of safe, affordable and decent shelter, but who lack
access to any kind of financing for their home. As you might know, Habitat for Humanity is a
trusted global leader in eliminating poverty-housing conditions and strengthening commu-
nity health and resilience worldwide. Habitat doesn’t just give away homes — it offers low-
or no-interest, affordable and fair loans to families that also put in significant sweat equity
during the homebuilding process.
The part that astounds me is how easy it is to address this housing crisis. It costs less
than $5,000 to build a simple but decent, earthquake-proof home in Guatemala. With that
relatively small amount of money, the life trajectory of an entire family (and probably future
generations, too) will be improved dramatically.
My personal goal is to raise the entire cost of one home that will change a family’s life
forever! Together, my Global Village team hopes to raise $25,000, enough to build five houses.
Today I am asking you to help me reach my $5,000 goal. Any amount will make an enor-
mous difference, but if everyone who receives this letter gives $100, we will be able to build
not just one, but two houses! (Feel free to give more than $100, too!) My deadline is Dec. 1.
Please donate via credit card on my fundraising Web page at
(this is the best way to give) or via check made out to Habitat for Humanity. Please send
checks to me at 510 Tulsa Ave, Denton TX 76201. I will bundle the checks, label them to make
sure they get allocated properly and mail them on Dec. 1.
I’ll send you an update next month on the project and on my fundraising success! Of
course, feel free to call (760-555-1313) or email me at if you have ques-
tions about this journey and about Habitat’s work worldwide. Thank you again for consider-
ing this request and for supporting this important effort.
Sincerely,
David
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