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If youve been asked to write a letter to help with fundraising for a group or charity that youre involved with, you may be staring at a blank piece of paper wondering just what to write.

Heres an actual letter that was used to raise a substantial sum towards a refit of church equipment and was sent to local trusts and grant-making bodies.

Its important to keep your letter to just one page, with supporting information of no more than two pages. Include one photo if you wish and if its relevant.

Dont resort to begging, but write an informative letter which helps the donor to understand what your projects aims and goals are.

Although this is an actual letter, names and information has been changed, for obvious reasons.

Dear Mr Bentley

I am writing to Bentley Charity Trust on behalf of Finedown Baptist Church, as your guidelines indicate that you offer support for churches.

Finedown is a rapidly growing town situated in central Flintshire. It has a thriving business centre, with some of the top financial companies in the country being based locally.

We have a thriving youth group for local young people. We have a 68 members and offer services in both the morning and evening.

The church building is used by a number of different local groups because of its good acoustics, this includes the Watley Moor singers and the Big Down band. We also host activities such as yoga, fitness club and local coffee mornings for the local community.

We refitted our entrance seven years ago. However, the entrance doors are now in need of substantial repair if we are to be able to continue using them and welcoming in the community. The estimated cost of this work is 9995.

We have already raised the sum of 7900 through our fundraising efforts but need a further 2095 to be able to carry out the necessary work.

As a Trust that is interested in supporting and preserving buildings which are of value to the local community, we would be most grateful if you could consider assisting us with this project.

Please feel free to call me on 1234 678910 if you would like any further information.

Yours faithfully,

Jen Carter
chair of the Fundraising Committee

Do ensure that you print this on headed paper, if you have it.

It's important that it's signed by the person whose name is on the bottom of the letter, this is not the time to be in a hurry and "pp" the letter on someone elses behalf.

If you would like an acknowledgement that your application for funding has been received, add a stamped, self-addressed postcard or envelope.

Only send off letter to trusts that offer funding in your area and your type of project.

Once you've sent off your applications, be patient! Most of these boards only meet every two or three months, so it may be some time until you hear whether or not you've been successful.

If you are offered a grant, always write and say thank you. Write again once the project is up and running to let them know of your progress.

about the Author

Jennifer has successfully submitted fundraising applications for several major projects.

For further fundraising ideas and further sample letters, visit her fundraising ideas website.

Global warming is a term that refers to the increase of temperature near the earth's surface caused by the accumulation of greenhouse gases. It is interesting to note that this phenomenon was first observed in the mid 18th and 19th century during the industrial revolution in developed countries. This rapid industrialization, which used heavy machinery utilizing fossil fuels all added to the huge build-up of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere.

In science we learn that, in an ideal setting, short wave light from the sun enters through the thermal blanket (i.e. the greenhouse gases) which is made up of water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone. The short wave light is reflected by the earth as infrared radiation back to the atmosphere. Only a fraction is retained by the thermal blanket and is returned to the surface to sustain an environment where plants grow and where human and animals live.

Unfortunately, due to mans neglect, the accumulation of greenhouse gases eventually reached massive and irreversible proportions. This leads to the damage of the earth's ozone layer. The ozone layer is our planet's shield against harmful UV rays emanating from the sun.

When industries started booming, the indiscriminate use of fossil fuels, chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFC for air-conditioners, aerosol propellants, etc.), forest fires during the dry seasons, oil-field fires during the Iraqi war in the 1990s, rapid deforestations in South America and Asia or even methane produced by cattle are all instrumental to the increase of greenhouse gases. This scenario will raise global temperature from 1.44 degrees to a worrying 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2100, as reported by the Worlds Inter-Government Panel on Climate Change. This may not seem like much of a difference in temperature changes but unless concerted global effort is initiated immediately to avert the ill effects of global warming, the earth will experience a disaster of immense proportions.

Continued rise in temperature which will in turn cause the polar ice caps to melt. Sea water will rise considerably and inundate the low-lying areas all over the world, erasing habitable lands. Entire islands could be wiped of the map. This could lead to the extinction of species due to the loss of natural habitats and further erratic climatic behavior. The sad thing is that the polar ice caps has already begun melting, 30 years ahead of the projections made by experts in the field.

Copyright 2007
MMLnet.org
Learn more about global warming
at: Gwey.com This article may be freely reprinted in your ezine, e-book, blog or web site as long as it includes this copyright notice and all the links in the article are left unchanged.