Bruce Barton’s fundraising letters for Deerfield Academy: from 1955 and 1956, letters 16 and 17

Letter 16, page 1.

Letter 16, page 2.

Letter 17, pages 1 and 2.

Letter 17, pages 3 and 4.

Headmaster Boyden with students not long before he retired in 1968 after 66 years as head at Deerfield. Bruce Barton clearly both admired and liked the man, for he made him and Mrs Boyden the focus of their fundraising.

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As part of our mission to build a permanently accessible archive of great fundraising practice SOFII will soon bring you all 21 of Bruce Barton’s legendary fundraising letters for Deerfield Academy. You can find letters one and two here, letters three, four and five here, letters six, seven and eight here, letters nine, ten and eleven here and letters 12 to 14 here. SOFII is indebted to writer Fergal Byrne (see the ‘How I wrote that’ series elsewhere on SOFII) for bringing these brilliant fundraising letters to our attention.

More case studies from Bruce Barton

• The Bruce Barton letter: the classic long copy letter from 1925 that pulled a 100 per cent response
• Bruce Barton’s fundraising letters for Deerfield Academy, from the 1940s.
• Bruce Barton’s fundraising letters for Deerfield Academy: From 1945, letters three, four and five.
• Bruce Barton’s fundraising letters for Deerfield Academy: from 1946/47, letters six, seven and eight.
• Bruce Barton’s fundraising letters for Deerfield Academy continue with letters nine, 10 and 11, from 1948 and 1949.
• Bruce Barton’s fundraising letters for Deerfield Academy: from the turn of the 1950s, letters 12, 13 and 14
• Bruce Barton’s fundraising letters for Deerfield Academy: from 1951, letter 15
• Bruce Barton’s fundraising letters for Deerfield Academy: from 1956 and 1957, letters 18 and 19
• Bruce Barton’s fundraising letters for Deerfield Academy: from 1957 and 1958, letters 20 and 21
• Bruce Barton’s fundraising letters for Deerfield Academy: from 1960, letter 22

SOFII's view

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Bruce Barton.

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I love writing up exhibits for the Bruce Barton letters series on SOFII. Each time I prepare for that task I feel I learn something new about fundraising and something more about the man. Confession time: I was only dimly aware of Bruce Barton and his brilliance before journalist Fergal Byrne, a SOFII stalwart, brought him to my and SOFII’s attention about 18 months ago. Progressing through this collection has been one delight after another as each new addition to the showcase has revealed more fundraising and direct marketing gems.

Letter 17 – though perhaps the dullest of all 21 – stands out even among this crowd as something special. For in this letter we are treated to a mini-biography of Barton himself, his listing among those of his peers on the Deerfield School board of trustees of his own short CV (resume). From this we learn that whatever his business interests – and Bruce Barton was a rich and successful businessman by any standards – he was also a philanthropist of some stature. With matter-of-fact modesty he lays out on page three of the letter the bare bones of his credentials. From this we see that he was not merely a trustee at Deerfield and chairman of his ad agency, BBDO, he was also chairman of the American Heart Association, president of the rather archaic-sounding Institute for the Crippled and Disabled (this was a long time ago, so allowances might be made) and he was on the boards of Berea College, Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center and the less philanthropic-sounding State Street Investment Corporation.

An impressive tally of voluntary roles indeed.

His co-trustees were scarcely less illustrious, but there wasn’t a woman among them. So our man, while socially aware and arguably ahead of his time, still had some distance to travel. But it is as a consummate crafter of fundraising appeals that fundraisers will remember Bruce Barton. He was a writer par excellence, a storyteller of skill and stature who clearly got exceptional results because he wrote exceptionally good fundraising letters That’s why wise fundraisers will do well to study these great exhibits.

Background:

The four-year gap in no way diminished Bruce Barton’s exceptional capacity for penning a powerful appeal. In letter 16 he gets straight to the point making an entirely unapologetic appeal for further funds while reminding readers that achieving spectacular results is nothing new, for them.

His skill at getting readers on his side has to be admired and it’s amply evident in letter 16. Letter 17, by contrast, almost certainly wouldn’t be written or sent today, and wouldn’t be given much attention if it were. Back then though people were less questioning, were more impressed by rank, provenance and achievement. So this letter would I’m sure have reassured many donors and strengthened their resolve, while opening their chequebooks too. As I’ve said, this letter is illuminating chiefly for what it tells us about its writer. But I also love the implicit intrigue in the PS (readers only have to wait a month for the answer) and Barton’s delightful cameo of Frank Boyden arriving at seven am, ‘as fresh and rosy as the dawn'.

How lucky we are, to have these letters.

Other relevant information:

Barton had a facility for stirring his readers not to applause but to action. Take these snippets, from letter 16:

‘Joyfully we pulled down the rambling old wooden dining hall, where the boys often had to stand outside in the rain…’

Yes, yes! I want to join with him, to lend my shoulder to the task of demolishing the old monstrosity.

He then describes:

‘... the ramshackle barn, a fire-trap if ever there was one…’

Sweep it away, I say. Let us not tolerate this one day longer…

Enough from me. I implore you, before I get completely carried away, read these letters. Oh, and do please pay special attention to the final paragraph of letter 16. It’s a fundraising offer and an ask combined, expressed more subtly, elegantly and emotionally than most you’ll see, these days. Read, reflect and recycle, for there is real treasure here.