Inside the envelope a letter is included to the reader explaining why they are sending you the mailshot and what the charity does to help. The letter begins with ‘Dear Friend’ which is very personal like they have known you for a long time. The director of fundraising, Lesley Thompson, then makes a direct appeal for help by beginning ‘I would’. If the letter had begun ‘If you could spare some of your time...’ it would be less personal. By beginning with ‘I would be grateful’ the reader may feel more connected to the charity and could possible be persuaded to donate money. The letter uses lots of emotive language such as ‘most grateful’. There is then a description of the charity and some information of what it does, they ’not only help’ but they ‘fight for equal rights’. This shows they use a variety of things to help but that they challenge prejudices in the world. Other emotive language used is ‘great value’ and ‘your help’. They say that the more people that answer the survey the ‘fuller picture’ they can build about ‘attitudes and awareness’. This may make the reader feel that if they do not participate in the survey they are not helping in the fight against prejudice in the world. They then say that it is ‘simple to answer the questionnaire, all you have to do is ‘tick a box unless you choose to add comments’. They also write that if there are questions you ‘prefer not to answer, please feel free to leave them blank’. This makes a reader feel more comfortable especially if they have had difficult experiences with people with learning difficulties.
The letter then leads onto the main reason for sending the mailshots: donations. They use language such as ‘another way to help’ and would you ‘consider’ giving £5 a month to give ‘support and a voice’. This is very emotive and makes people feel guilty if they do not donate as people with learning difficulties will not be able to speak out and they are not helping. It also makes the reader feel guilty as it mentions helping ‘families’ who are others who are affected by these problems as well. They may think what would it be like if they knew someone that had learning difficulties. Immediately after asking for money they give you a fact that 200 ‘children’ are born with a learning disability. This is a shocking fact as children are so young and innocent and it is emphasised with the words ‘devastating blow’ for families who need ‘emotional support’.
The letter ends with the charity thanking the reader ‘very warmly’ for their time to ‘help’ their work. This again makes the reader feel guilty if they do not help. However, if they are willing to give donations they are thanked for being so nice and generous which makes the reader feel good as they have helped someone in the world that day. The letter ends with a hand-signed signature from Lesley Thompson, Director of Fundraising. This direct approach is repeated from the beginning of the letter. It could make the reader feel special that the lady has taken time to write and personally sign the letter. Again this could possibly persuade the reader to donate money.
The ‘Mencap National Attitudes and Awareness Survey’ is a questionnaire included in the mailshot with two incentives. Firstly it is there to find out information about people’s awareness and attitudes towards learning difficulties and how they can help change this and secondly to encourage readers to donate money. The questionnaire consists of questions where the reader only has to tick boxes and it is made as simply as possible. The questionnaire starts by asking more personal questions such as the age group they are in and if they know anyone who has had a learning disability. This might let them investigate whether this affects attitudes and awareness. They then ask questions of whether readers know particular facts about disabilities and whether they think certain aspects about quality of life are important or not. The very last question asks how aware readers are of particular activities involves with Mencap. These questions make the reader think about helping these activities after reading the shocking facts such as ‘20,000 adults with a learning disability are living at home all day with their parents, with no day services or outside support.’ This makes them want to help and make sure that these adults or possibly children are never without help so their quality of life is increased.
Directly after the questionnaire the charity includes a donation form asking you to make a ‘regular’ gift, as they are aware that you may be feeling emotional after learning facts and statistics about learning difficulties. On the donation form they write ‘I wish to make a donation towards Mencap’s vital work’ emphasising to the reader that other people depend on them for their help and they may be persuaded to donate any amount of money. Many options of donating are offered, ranging from direct debit monthly payments to credit card donations of a non-fixed amount. On the back of the questionnaire the reader is given lots of facts featured underneath a picture of a cute sleeping baby being cradled by its mother. The facts and statistics include the fact that they need ‘everyday help’ and ‘require 24-hour care’. They ‘rely on support from the public’. The picture is used to emphasise that this sleeping innocent baby never asked to have this disability but needs your help, as she is not able to look after herself.
An envelope is included to send a donation to Mencap and again they ask you to reply by a particular date because they know you will only reply after a certain time period. There is a not in the space for the stamp saying ‘This envelope does not require a stamp, but using one will help us cut our costs’. This not only makes the reader feel good that they are sending a donation to help these people but they are helping the charity reduce their costs which can be used to help others with learning difficulties. This message is emphasised on the back of the envelope saying ‘Thankyou for you generous support’. This emotive language makes the reader feel good again or possibly feel guilty if they do not donate any money as they have not been generous and have not helped anyone that day.
Charity Organisation mailshots such as the one from the charity Mencap are widely produced and often sent to people in the hope that they will donate money and help those who are in need. These methods of emotive and forceful language and case histories of people you may be able to relate with instead of just facts and statistics giving you information are powerful methods of persuading readers to donate. Pictures help you to visualise the problems much more clearly. The language, arguments used, case histories and various presentational devices combined may persuade the reader to donate money to these charities.
