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    Top 10 professions of Williams’ 23,000 graduates:

    1. Health


    2. Education


    3. Banking/ Finance

    4. Law

    5.Graphic Arts/ Media

    6.Consulting

    7.Science Research

    8.Fine/Performing arts

    9.Business Administration

    10.Writing

    • WRITING A WINNING LETTER

    Despite e-mail, Web pages, faxes, and all manner of wireless communication, there’s nothing quite like awell-written letter that is attractively printed on good paper stock. It reads well and feels good to the touch.It offers an opportunity to enclose another BRE. And it works. People look at letters when it is a goodtime for them to do so. A letter never interrupts the dinner hour or calls anyone out of the shower.Readers can digest letters at their own pace. People can read a letter once and read it again and set itdown and come back to it later. (If you don’t believe that Williams alumni read letters carefully, put atypographical error or an incorrect fact in one of yours. Believe us – you’ll here about it!)

    For these reasons, we spend a lot of time hammering out effective letters for the Alumni Fund. Thevery best letters come not from the College, but from a volunteer whose voice, sincerity, and good cheerare undeniable. Here are a few guidelines:

    Tie your letter to the insert that will accompany it. Every year, the Alumni Fund office produces a series of brochures about Williams designed to accompany class agent letters. Try to keep letters consistent with the brochure theme. If the brochure features faculty accomplishments at Williams, don’t wax rhapsodic about how much you learned from your teammates on the basketball team. Write something about a favorite professor or how a faculty member helped or inspired you while you were an undergraduate.

    Tell a story. Perennial favorites in Reader’s Digest are those little stories in “Humor in Uniform” or “Campus Comedy.” If you tell a story when you write a letter, people will find it irresistible. Sophisticated writers will begin with a story, digress to the request for a gift, and finish the tale in the last paragraph.

    Make it personal. The letter is coming from you, not an institution. If you write about faculty, don’t refer to them en masse. If Professor Flugelhorn meant a lot to you, don’t just say he was inspiring – tell classmates how a tutorial with this scholar led you to your life’s work.

    There is no ideal length for an Alumni Fund letter. The letter should be as long as it needs to be to state the case for support. However, since you are writing to people who know you and who know Williams, avoid a long institutional history.

    The top five worst beginnings for an Alumni Fund letter:

    • “Well, it’s that time of the year again.” Sounds like it’s time for a flu shot.
    • “I know you dread this letter.” With an opener like that, you guarantee they will.
    • “It is my duty to inform you.” Is the recipient about to be drafted?
    • “Here is another piece of junk mail.” And we all know where to put junk mail.
    • “Dear Remaining Members of our Class.” Let me depress you today.

    Avoid the passive voice. Remember your freshman English courses? Make your sentences active and strong. “Professors teach classes,” not “classes are taught by professors.”
    TWENTY-ONE  
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    2003 annual fund alumni giving rates: Amherst,62.4% Davidson,62.0% Williams,61.1% Carlton,56.9% Bowdoin,55.3% Colgate,55.5% Haverford,54.0% Wesleyan,52.2%

    • Suggest a gift at a specific level. If your classmate says the level is too high, he or she probably will still be flattered that you asked.

    Always have a P.S. that says something important. People often read it first, especially in a one-page letter. Use it as a call to action.

    When you have finished, read your letter aloud. If you can read it easily, without tripping over words or phrases, it is written well. Get your prose to the point that it flows smoothly and makes sense. Let someone else look over the letter – a friend, another associate agent or a colleague – to get another reaction.

    Ask someone else to write your letter. If you have been writing to classmates for several years, think about asking a classmate to pen the letter. Your class may respond to appeals from a variety of class members. It will get you out of a rut. Have a class scholarship in place? Ask your Alumni Fund Development Officer to put you in touch with the student who holds the scholarship and ask he or she to write to the class.

    For Alumni Fund letters, we share and share alike! Ask your Alumni Fund Development Officer for samples of great letters from last year’s Alumni Fund. If you see something in another fundraising letter that you think would work for your class, feel free to copy it and use it.

    TWENTY-TWO