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Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

Thank-You Thursday: Many Thanks!

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Did you do a spring fundraising appeal? Are you sending out a lot of thank-you notes?   Here are some great tips on writing thank-yous that people will remember.

  1. Caryn Stein of Network for Good gives us 5 Rules for Thanking Donors.
  2. Pamela Grow shares A free thank you letter template you can swipe!
  3. Beth Ann Locke advises us, “Start with appreciation. End with thanks. And liberally sprinkle gratitude in between.” Find out how in Resolution 2014.
  4. Gail Perry of Fired-up Fundraising tells us How to Craft a Killer Thank-You Letter.
  5. I’d be silly not to mention my own article, The Ideal Thank-You Letter Went Out Today. (It’s the sequel to The Ideal Appeal Letter Begins With You.)

My friend Ann Green has it right: we should be thanking our donors all year long.  In fact, she suggests we set up thank-you calendars the same way we set up editorial calendars.  Now, there’s a resolution to keep in 2016!

Fundraising Tuesday: Write Me a Love Letter

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Cyrano de Bergerac

Cyrano could write a love letter. Can your nonprofit?

Listen, my friends: I’ve been trying to tell you how to write the ideal appeal letter in many different ways.

I’ve mentioned that your Board is not your audience, it’s your donors…and that you need to make your donor feel like the hero of the story, and get to know them, remember them, and thank them.

Forget what I said. Someone I just met said it better.

Why Donors Give

I was speaking to a conference of people with disabilities in the northeast U.S. last week. I was explaining that bragging about your organization and its accomplishments may make donors say, “That’s nice, but why should I care?”

I told them donors give not because you do good work but because giving makes them feel good about themselves. “Because of you,” the nonprofit should say to the donor, “a wonderful thing is happening.”

One participant at the conference turned his wheelchair to face me and raised his hand. “Now I get it,” he said.”What you’re saying is You want to write the donor a love letter. Share on X

Why a Good Appeal Letter is like a Love Letter

No heartsick suitor ever won his lady’s love by boasting. “I’m so great. I’ve done so well in so many ways. I deserve your love, so love me.” Sorry, Romeo, that’s not going to touch the heart.

What you have to say in your letter is what makes the other person–in this case, the donor–so love-able. Their values. The cause they support. The difference they make with each donation.

Persuade your donor that it’s their action that changes the world for the endangered people, species, or ecosystem they care about. Your organization is the vehicle by which they express what’s best about themselves–but only the vehicle.

Don’t focus on getting them to love you. Show the donor you love them.

Are you puzzled about how to write a love letter to your donor? Email me at [email protected]. I’ll be your Cyrano and show you the way to your donor’s heart.

TY Thursday: Your Nonprofit Organization’s Best Friend

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loyalty

Who is your organization’s best friend?

Every nonprofit organization has one: the most loyal supporter.  The person who gives as often as she can, or as often as you ask.  The one who volunteers for all your events and brings her friends.

You’d like a thousand like that.  You’d like to clone her.  What if you could?

Businesses have time-tested strategies that create loyal customers.  Some of these strategies work especially well on social media. Nonprofits can adapt and adopt these strategies to thank our donors, volunteers, and supporters.

Danny Maloney, CEO of the social media firm Tailwind, lists “4 Ways to Turn Social-Media Fans Into Raving, Loyal Customers”:

  1. Use a targeted approach.  Find the people who are already talking about you on Facebook, Twitter, and the web at large.
  2. Let your fans know you’re listening.  “If they took the time to share a blog post you wrote or to give you a positive review, be listening for it and thank them.”
  3. Target your special offers.  Businesses give loyalty discounts.  What can you give your most loyal supporters that they would enjoy: a chance to write for your blog? lunch with a celebrity who also supports you? an award?
  4. Curate compelling content.  That’s jargon for finding and sharing information that interests your supporters.  It could be an insider analysis of where their favorite legislation stands in Congress. It could be a video that explains the issue you and they both care about.

Sharing this content with your most loyal supporters makes them feel smarter and happier because they’re associated with you.  It shows them your gratitude. It keeps them coming back to your social media.

And it keeps them advocating for your organization, increasing awareness of you among their friends…who may become your next most loyal supporters.

 

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