Communicate!

Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

Telling donors’ stories: a short guide

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When someone gives your organization a gift and then agrees to talk about why, their story is an additional gift to you.

Donors do not have to talk with you: in fact, some prefer never to hear from the organization in person. They certainly don’t have to let you use their story in your newsletter, online in your website or social media, or in your fundraising. If they do agree, they are expressing generosity in a priceless way. No one else has the exact same story. It’s unique, and they are giving it to you.

So, approach each donor with love, treat them with respect while you are gathering their story, and then show your gratitude ever after. Share on X

Here are some ways to do that.

  1. A donor may spontaneously comment on why they are giving their gift. If it’s a “quotable quote,” ask permission to use it (and tell them how). Always ask, and never use it without their consent.
  2. Most of the time, you have to take the initiative. Get in touch with the donor and ask if you can have fifteen minutes to interview them about the path that led them to support your organization.
  3. When you talk, here are some questions that may get their conversational juices flowing:
    1. How did you first get involved with this community/organization?
    2. What drew you closer to it?
    3. What made you decide to donate? Was it a specific need you wanted to fill, or…?
    4. What do you hope the organization will be more able to do because you gave?
    5. What would you tell someone else who was considering making a gift to this organization?
  4. Thank the donor for the additional gift of their story ASAP after having the conversation. Reiterate how you hope to use it and let them know you’ll be in touch before anything about what they said goes out to an audience.
  5. Draft the telling of their story in brief, from your notes. Run the draft by them before publishing it in any form.
  6. Create a story bank where you keep notes, quotes, photos, and consent forms when that’s appropriate (especially when the story involves children).

Fundraising Tuesday: One Story or Many?

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You want donors to remember your organization between the times you ask them for money. You want them to think well of you. Storytelling is a time-tested way of attracting readers’ interests and getting them to remember.

Is it better to tell one story at a time, or many?

A Magazine of Stories

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) recently mailed me what looked like a regular news magazine. It had an attractive front cover, an ad on the back cover (for the ACLU!), and a Table of Contents full of articles about issues the organization had addressed. Some of those articles told success stories; others were works in progress.

It was impressive.

It’s a week later, and the magazine has gone out in the recycling bin–and I can only remember one of the stories the ACLU told me. (And that one has been in the mainstream news!)

Am I more likely to give to the ACLU because I received the magazine? Yes, marginally. But it cost them a lot to make that impression on me–and most of the organizations I support don’t have that kind of budget.

What can your organization do instead?

Tell the Right Story to the Right Person

If you really want to make a lasting impression on your donor that will lead to renewed and increased support, find out what they care about. Then, tell them one story about that.

Find out by asking them in your welcome series after their donation, or in a survey, or by calling them on the phone, or by seeing what they post on their own social media. (Record that information in your database or CRM, and segment your list.)

Then, write to them about that specific issue. Nothing else.

If you’re a hospital, send one story to people who care about childbirth and a different story to people who care about hospice.

If you’re a museum, talk to people who care about art preservation with different examples than you use for people who care about art education for children.

And if you’re a social justice organization–even though you know that the issues you work on are all connected!–talk to the donor about protecting voter rights, ending police violence, feeding hungry families, or stopping domestic violence, but not about all of them.

Find out what that donor cares about most. Send them messages just about that issue for the next six months. And watch your end-of-year income rise!

TY Thursday: Say Thanks by Telling the Story

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Look how many donors are stepping up to help meet immediate needs during the Covid-19 crisis! I’m grateful. I’m sure your nonprofit is, too. But does your donor know what a difference she made?

It’s up to you tell her–and one of the best ways to say thank you is by sharing a story.

Here’s an excellent email from Bread of Life, sent to me by one of my friends in Melrose, MA. Make sure to read the paragraph in italics!

Transaction Date:  05/06/2020

Thank You!

Dear Serena,

Thank you for your online donation. This will help Bread of Life provide COVID-19 hunger relief services to neighbors in need.

We have seen a dramatic increase in the numbers of people needing our food pantry and evening meals. Up to 70% of those coming to our food pantry are new, many experiencing unemployment, waiting for unemployment checks. We also initiated a grocery delivery program to senior citizens, disabled residents and families with special needs. We are delivering to residents of Malden, Everett, Medford, Melrose, Stoneham, Reading, Wakefield, Revere, Winthrop and Chelsea.

A senior citizen called to say she had just received the groceries we delivered to her home. She seemed stressed and we wondered if something was wrong with the grocery order. She said “I’m sorry it’s difficult for me to speak. I’m just so overwhelmed by the kindness of Bread of Life and the kindness of the delivery driver. I’m so grateful, you wouldn’t believe.”

Thank you for supporting Bread of Life.. It is through the help and generosity of people like you that we are able to continue our work. Your compassionate support truly makes a difference!

Bread of Life.

If I were advising Bread of Life, I would make only two suggestions to improve this email:

  1. Use less “we” and more “you.” Not “We initiated a grocery delivery program” but “Your gift made it possible to deliver groceries to senior citizens, disabled residents,” etc.
  2. Take that touching story and move it toward the top of the email. If you read nothing else, and I am Bread of Life, I want you, the donor, to read that!
Thanking donors is strengthening relationships--and strengthening your nonprofit. Share on X

Can I help your organization improve its thank-you letters and emails? Email [email protected], and let’s make a time to find out!

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