{
 "schema": "aiblocks-page/1",
 "id": "nonprofit-annual-appeal-planner",
 "type": "skill",
 "name": "Nonprofit annual appeal planner",
 "summary": "Plan your nonprofit annual appeal. Share donor groups and gift history, and get appeal letters, gift amounts, a send calendar and results measures.",
 "headline": "Nonprofit annual appeal planner",
 "subhead": "Share your donor groups, giving history, campaign goal, and channels. It plans suitable gift amounts and writes a clear fundraising ask. You get appeal letters or emails, matching reply wording, a send calendar, and measures for reviewing results.",
 "job": {
  "id": "write-emails",
  "name": "Write emails that get read"
 },
 "level": "intermediate",
 "thinking": "high",
 "tested": true,
 "updated": "2026-10-28",
 "first_published": "2026-10-25",
 "inputs": [
  {
   "type": "question",
   "required": true,
   "label": "Question",
   "what": "the problem, decision or piece of work you want help with, and what a good outcome looks like"
  },
  {
   "type": "document",
   "required": false,
   "label": "Document",
   "what": "a finished document, such as a Word file, a PDF or a page of notes"
  },
  {
   "type": "spreadsheet",
   "required": false,
   "label": "Spreadsheet",
   "what": "a spreadsheet with its data, formulas and charts"
  }
 ],
 "outputs": [
  {
   "type": "plan",
   "required": true,
   "label": "Plan",
   "what": "a dated plan: what to do, in what order, with a decision rule for each step"
  },
  {
   "type": "copy_draft",
   "required": true,
   "label": "Copy draft",
   "what": "a draft of any copy (ad, page, email or script) that a check or edit pass works on"
  }
 ],
 "you_give": [
  "Donor counts for each group (new, renewing, lapsing, mid-level, prospects).",
  "Each donor's last gift and highest gift.",
  "Past appeal response rates and average gifts (optional).",
  "Your campaign goal and the channel, mail or email.",
  "Your send dates and key deadlines.",
  "Verified cost data for what a gift pays for."
 ],
 "you_get": [
  "A plan that splits your donors into groups, each with its own message.",
  "Suggested gift amounts for each group, based on past giving.",
  "An appeal letter or email with a P.S. and matching reply wording.",
  "A dated send calendar that spaces out your asks.",
  "A scorecard to track response rate, average gift and cost to raise a dollar."
 ],
 "use_when": [
  "You are planning a year-end or giving-season appeal for a nonprofit.",
  "You need to split your donor list before a mail or email send.",
  "You want an appeal letter and reply card that use the same gift amounts.",
  "An appeal did poorly and you want to check response rates by group."
 ],
 "skip_when": [
  "You need to set up donor records or segment tools in your database: use your donor database's own help or a database admin.",
  "You are running a walk, run or team fundraiser where supporters raise money from friends: plan that as a separate peer-to-peer campaign.",
  "You want a general newsletter with no fundraising ask: write it as a plain newsletter, not an appeal."
 ],
 "output_sample": {
  "input": [
   "Number of donors in each group (new, renewing, lapsing, mid-level, prospects)",
   "Each donor's last gift and highest gift",
   "Past appeal response rates and average gifts (optional)",
   "Your campaign goal, channel and send dates",
   "Verified cost data for what a gift pays for"
  ],
  "output": [
   {
    "name": "Segmentation plan",
    "contains": "Each donor group with its own message angle and ask logic."
   },
   {
    "name": "Appeal letter",
    "contains": "A story opening, the ask, what a gift does, a deadline, one call to action and a P.S."
   },
   {
    "name": "Reply device",
    "contains": "Reply card or donation page wording that matches the letter's gift amounts exactly."
   },
   {
    "name": "Ask string",
    "contains": "Suggested gift amounts for each group, based on past giving, with a higher top option."
   },
   {
    "name": "Appeal calendar",
    "contains": "Dated drops by channel, group and theme, spaced to avoid donor fatigue."
   },
   {
    "name": "Performance scorecard",
    "contains": "Response rate, average gift and cost to raise a dollar for each appeal, by group."
   }
  ]
 },
 "how_to_use": [
  "Open Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini and paste in the skill instructions. No code or paid tool is needed.",
  "Paste your donor group counts, gift history, goal, channel and send dates. Send no names, emails, addresses or other identifiers. Use group counts and donor ID numbers only. Check your data-protection policy and your AI tool's terms before you paste any donor records.",
  "Give real cost data for what a gift pays for. If you have none, your AI will leave a bracketed blank to fill in.",
  "Check the gift amounts, the impact lines and the story before anything goes out.",
  "Have a person review the full appeal, because it goes to your whole donor list at once.",
  "After the appeal closes, paste in the results and ask for the scorecard."
 ],
 "checks": [],
 "next": [
  {
   "name": "SMS send checker",
   "url": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/sms-send-checker",
   "why": "SMS send checker"
  },
  {
   "name": "Email draft reviewer",
   "url": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/email-draft-reviewer",
   "why": "Email draft reviewer"
  },
  {
   "name": "Email draft readiness checker",
   "url": "https://useaiblocks.com/prompts/email-send-readiness-scorer",
   "why": "Email draft readiness checker"
  }
 ],
 "source": {
  "by": "Nonprofit Skills",
  "repo": "sector-skills/nonprofit-skills",
  "url": "https://github.com/sector-skills/nonprofit-skills/tree/7d8a2ca9d471fc975d0e9ccd02fcdd66520fd1c8/nonprofit-skills-library/skills/fundraising-development/nonprofit-annual-appeals",
  "licence": "MIT",
  "original_name": "nonprofit-annual-appeals",
  "commit": "7d8a2ca9d471fc975d0e9ccd02fcdd66520fd1c8"
 },
 "credits": [
  {
   "title": "nonprofit-annual-appeals skill",
   "by": "Nonprofit Skills",
   "url": "https://github.com/sector-skills/nonprofit-skills/tree/7d8a2ca9d471fc975d0e9ccd02fcdd66520fd1c8/nonprofit-skills-library/skills/fundraising-development/nonprofit-annual-appeals",
   "used": "Copied under the MIT licence. We gave it a plain name. We added Before you start and After this sections that link to other AI Blocks steps."
  },
  {
   "title": "Original author",
   "by": "Brendon Connelly",
   "url": "https://brendonconnelly.com",
   "used": "Wrote the skill; Nonprofit Skills shared it in their collection."
  }
 ],
 "files": [
  "LICENSE"
 ],
 "links": {
  "page": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/nonprofit-annual-appeal-planner",
  "markdown": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/nonprofit-annual-appeal-planner.md",
  "json": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/nonprofit-annual-appeal-planner.json",
  "instructions": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/nonprofit-annual-appeal-planner/SKILL.md",
  "download": "https://useaiblocks.com/skills/nonprofit-annual-appeal-planner.zip",
  "api_item": "https://useaiblocks.com/api/v1/items/nonprofit-annual-appeal-planner",
  "api_document": "https://useaiblocks.com/api/v1/documents/skill/nonprofit-annual-appeal-planner",
  "mcp": "https://useaiblocks.com/mcp"
 }
}