Get Help?

Communicating your message

You are most likely going to have to go through “gatekeepers” such as an agent or manager to get to the celebrity, and they are paid to protect their clients’ time and images. Sadly, they don’t always have the time for niceties, so keep that in mind if you get what appears to be a rude response, or no response at all.

Get to the point

When you are writing your letter of introduction, remember these are very busy people who are approached constantly. Try to grab their attention right away – if you have something exciting to share or heavy hitters supporting you, say it early. Nothing turns a busy person off more than having to dredge through a long email or letter, trying to figure out what it is the writer is after. We can attest to that – if the email is too long or is unclear, we quickly lose interest.

We cannot stress enough how extremely important it is to be clear about what you want. Don’t leave the reader wondering what it is you expect them to be able to do for you. You can explain what you are doing perfectly, but if you don’t say how you think the reader can help, they won’t be able to imagine themselves helping you. Busy people won’t take time to decipher your message and figure out for themselves what you are asking them to do.

Start with a quick summary:

• What is your project? Try to sum it up in one or two catchy sentences. Don’t get too caught up on the details.
• What are your assets? Describe existing funding, plans already in motion, major supporters, past experience etc.
• How do you want the person to help? e.g. appearing at an event, signing a photo, etc.
• Why they are a good candidate to get involved. Make sure you get this one right, as it shows your understanding of your situation and theirs. We receive lots of letters asking us for help with things completely out of our field of expertise, and it makes us wonder if the people writing us truly understand what it is that they are doing.
• What will the celebrity get out of it? Money, travel expenses, name on the program, seeing the faces of people they have helped, etc.
• Make it personal. Don’t send out 50 letters clad in bright red envelopes to one agency all in one day – that screams “spam” and robs your letter of its strength. If the agency feels like you are trawling with a bulk letter, they will not give your cause the attention it deserves.
• Proof read your letters, and have others look them over, too. Make sure names are spelled correctly, and that they are the right names. We sometimes get emails and letters which are obviously sent to many people, but with the name of the recipient changed. If you must do this, be very sure all of your proper names and pronouns are correct. Don’t tell a star named John that you hope she can find it in her heart to support you.
• If you would like a response, be sure to include response cards and/or a return envelope.
• Include links to any relevant websites, so they can do further research on their own if they choose to. Good websites to reference might include Guidestar.org or CharityNavigator.org if your organisation is listed there.

Some ways to grab attention include mentioning:

• Compelling publicity opportunities, i.e., thousands of people will be watching your show on television, or a large media outlet is one of your sponsors
• Names (for example, if one of your key advisors is CEO of a major corporation, mention that you have that support.)
• Money. Even if you aren’t promising to pay the supporter, just seeing $$ can boost a person’s interest in the event/project, so if you are working on a $million project, mention it.
• Potential for social good. If you’re trying to engage someone for charitable purposes, it helps if it is clear their involvement will make a tangible difference.

Be honest, and don’t oversell your position. Don’t say that you and your partner websites receive 1/2 million hits if you don’t even have your website up and running yet. Don’t say that you are working with the UN if no UN employees can back you up on it. Also, don’t claim you cover a topic on your website if all you have is a couple of out-dated links to news stories on other sites. No one wants to be misled, and you will quickly be written off if you are too unrealistic about your claims.

Hope sells. Show your positive side, state how your group is helping your cause, and explain how the celebrity personally can make a difference. But don’t put on too much pressure or you are likely to scare them away. No one wants to have the weight of an entire cause resting on their actions.

Desperation does not work! Nothing turns a recipient off more than a message like, “I am suffering from [insert latin name of rare plant here], and need someone to buy me a new house and two red cars or my children will move in with my neighbors.” (We really have received messages like this!) Show that you are already taking steps to help yourself, albeit perhaps not as quickly or grandly as you could with their support, and have reasonable expectations for what they can do to help.

As mentioned above, have a specific plan. Many representatives absolutely will not approach their clients about a project unless it is definite, with solid dates and times. We have seen this happen even in the case of big name celebrities who are organizing events and looking to get other A-listers involved – without a solid plan, even they can struggle to get through.

Contact and document all efforts in reporting your abuse to the following:

COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES
Police misconduct:

OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL
The mission of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) is to promote constitutional policing and the fair and impartial administration of justice.