You’re drafting a letter – your next Annual Giving, a gift acknowledgement, a personal letter, or a news item for your website. Once you’re completed the address/date portion, what part of the item is the one the addressee is most likely to notice? The first sentence, and probably not all of the first sentence – the first three or four words. Those few words may be all that the prospect reads! (Well, they'll probably read the postscript.)
Don't waste that precious real estate on openings like these:
Why not?
Yes, it takes a little extra effort to start at the heart of the matter rather than at the beginning. But enticing the reader to read beyond your first few words is well worth effort, and a lively opening sets you up as an organization worth listening to, and an impression that may well extend to other things you write.