Helping you win loyal friends through your communications
If you work for a nonprofit organization and you’re sending out a thank-you letter that sounds like a tax receipt, stop!
Find your most memorable story. Put it in your thank-you letter.
Why? To find out, read Say “Thank You” with a Story, a guest post by me on Tripp Braden’s blog.
The key point? “People will thank you for your thank-you. They’ll remember your story. And they’ll give to you again.”
Read Say “Thank You” with a Story and rewrite your thank-you letter today!
The judge shook his head in disbelief. Before him stood a bank robber, arrested for the fifth time. “Why do you do it?” he asked. “Why do you keep on robbing banks?”
The robber looked at him in pity. “Because that’s where they keep the money!”
A good story you can tell your donors is like money in the bank for your organization. Where does your nonprofit keep its stories?
If you want to tell stories that will touch your donors’ hearts and move them to give money, you need a place to keep the stories. You need a story bank.
You get to work in the morning and realize it’s time to send out an appeal letter. Naturally, since you know it will dramatically increase the number of people who read your letter and give, you want to include a story.
What do you do? Do you start emailing and leaving voicemail for your frontline staff? How long does it take for them to get back to you? How much of what you hear from them is actually a story (as versus a dry timeline)?
Collecting your stories as you go solves all these problems. When you need one, it’s right there–and you’ve already figured out the story arc that will make it stick in the reader’s mind.
“A storybank is a mechanism for capturing and sharing stories in a variety of media,” says Wendy Levy of the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture.
Elizabeth Prescott has good advice for how to start your story bank. Begin by
collecting the low-hanging fruit–those stories that your colleagues already know well and routinely share with each other (or with donors) to illustrate theimportance of what you do.
You could use tools specially designed for storybanking. Prescott likes TrackVia. Others have spoken well of Zahmoo or WuFoo. It’s certainly going to be helpful to be able to share the information you collect online, and no spreadsheet or word processing document can do that.
The problem with new technology is that often, the people in your organization won’t use it.
Learning a new tool feels like one more thing to do, on top of a pile of things to do that’s large and constantly growing (in every nonprofit I know!).
So, you are probably better off using tools that are familiar to people in your organization. Do you have a shared Google Drive? Use that. How about a wiki, or a Dropbox? Use what people are used to.
If you have to, assign one person to be the address for the storybank and have everyone email their stories, photos, etc., to that person. It’s better to have a bank of stories that’s low-tech than not to collect those stories at all!
2. For each story, track dates, demographics and times used.
This tip comes again from Elizabeth Prescott, who says, “It may not seem as important when you only have a few stories, but the bigger your bank gets, the more you’ll wish that you had some good search terms so that you could find just the right person to speak about a particular topic or from the perspective of a particular social group.”
3. Make sure you have permission to use names and photos. Having a standard release form for people to sign is a good idea. In your story bank, keep notes (or copies) of the permission given. Even then, though, double-check. It’s better to use a slightly less vivid story than to make a client or a supporter feel bad about your organization.
Should you invite your donors to visit your programs? How open should the doors of your nonprofit be?
We’re not talking about a donor appreciation event here, or another fundraising gala. The question is, should you give the person who has donated to your organization the chance to see the organization at work, and how?
Tina Jepson of Causevox has suggested:
Allow donors to get to know your organization on a more personal, intimate level by offering a behind-the-scenes look at your nonprofit operations with a tour, lunch and learn program, etc.
(This is #13 on her list of 20 thank-you ideas your nonprofit can try. Check out the whole list!)
Ann Green thinks holding a donor open house is a way to “do something special for your donors.” And F. Duke Haddad of the Salvation Army agrees.
In truth, the only way you can receive 100 percent feedback and emotional ties is by having someone visit your organizational facilities to meet the cast of those in your organizational orbit.
I have to agree, too. Donor appreciation events are fine–and they give the donors the chance to meet one another, so they double as networking events. That’s a tangible way to say “thanks” to your donors!
But appreciation events are separate from the daily life of your nonprofit. Attending those events won’t let the people who support your organization see their gifts in action.
And seeing that is what will motivate them to make that next gift.
Before you rush to propose to your organization that you open the doors, however, think about it from the program staff point of view.
Bringing donors in to observe the program could disrupt what you’re supposed to be doing with and for the clients that day.
It could thrust staff into a role they haven’t prepared for and don’t feel good about performing.
It could be a liability issue, if there’s any chance the donors could harm or be harmed. Or it could backfire. Let’s be honest: not every day in the life of your nonprofit is something you’d like donors to carry around with them when they think about their donation dollars at work.
At the very least, it’s going to create extra work. So, if you’re going to invite donors to visit, the way you bring them in is crucial. There needs to be something in it for the staff and the program participants, too!
Here’s one of the best suggestions I’ve heard for how to bring your donors to the programs: Have a volunteer day.
Figure out something that actually needs doing (not a make-work project). Invite donors to pitch in along with staff and clients to get it done. Give them chances to relax and just talk together.
You, the development officer, should circulate, make introductions, and answer questions as they come up. Take a moment somewhere along the way to thank the donors for what they have already given and what they are giving today, by showing up.
If you have a client who wants to tell his or her story, give them a chance. But please, don’t micro-manage the event. The donors are not there to see you. They’ve come to see what a good organization they’re supporting, and feel good about themselves.
Have you already invited your donors to volunteer at your organization? What advice would you share about planning ahead and making the day a happy one?