It’s end-of-year letter drafting time again, and people are adjusting their tone, calibrating their messages, trying to figure out how doom-and-gloom to make their letters. Do we talk about how we had to cut back last year? How we had to put whole programs on hold, literally fight not to close our doors? Or how the families we assist, the kids we educate, the communities we serve, didn’t have the same options in their lives in 2009?
Or do we sweep all that under the rug because people are tired of bad news and it seems like it might be getting slightly better (here’s hoping that’s not just a mirage)?
It’s a dilemma, and I’ve seen people address it in every which way. There’s no wrong call, as long as it’s done with dignity and respect for the intelligence of the reader – and from the viewpoint of the reader, not the nonprofit.
What do I mean by that? That end-of-year letters are not about how well you’ve performed your service (or the cuts you’ve had to make).
A well-written end-of-year letter targets what the reader cares about, and brings out that sense of the reader’s “best self” – that part of the reader that truly cares about others.
The end-of-year letter as call to conscience…making us a better, more committed community in the process.
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