This Saturday was a very important day. Which one was it?

a. World Naked Gardening Day

b. Star Wars Day (May the Fourth be with you!)

c. Kent State anniversary

Answer: it was all of the above. But it was a different day to different audiences.

It’s vital to know who you’re talking to.

Are the people who support your organization light-hearted homeowners or community garden growers? Then saluting World Naked Gardening Day may make them feel you’re their kind of people.

But if they’re the kind of religious people who live in the city and have a code of modesty, you’re probably telling them, “Go away. We don’t care what you think.”

If you’re Vietnam Veterans Against the War, you may have members and donors who remember Kent State as pivotal moment of their youth.

Sending them images of Jedi knights and Imperial Storm Troopers may make light of the grief, even half a century later.

Similarly, May 5 is a drinking holiday for some in the U.S. and a proud day of resistance to invaders to Mexicans. This year, it is also the beginning of Ramadan. If you send messages with a bottle of tequila in them, you may lose supporters–if you have supporters who are Mexican-Americans or Muslims.

The Right Message for the Audience

I am not saying there’s anything wrong with a little levity, or nudity. At the right time, to the right people, humorous content and alcoholic content may both be welcome!

What’s wrong is assuming that all your readers will respond the same way. Get to know what matters to them and you will know how to address the different people you’re trying to reach–in a way that says “I know you.”

P.S. It’s May 6. Happy National Nurses Day to those who celebrate it!

Does your Board love your newsletter, website, blog, or social media?

That might be a bad sign.

Your Board includes some of the people who care most deeply about your organization.

Your communications should appeal to the people who have taken an interest  but don’t love you yet.  Woo them.

Your Board knows your organization and its programs really well already.

Your communications should touch people who don’t remember your agency’s name…but care about the difference you make.  Tell them stories.

Your Board may obsess about whose name is mentioned, whose face is in the photo, or whether you write in paragraphs.  Or sentence fragments.

Your communications should ignore those issues as much as possible.  Be useful to the people you want to reach. 

If you inform, educate, and entertain your audience, they will know, like, and trust you.  They will become your loyal supporters.  They will give time.  They will give money.  And that’s what your Board will really love.

Can you write a thank-you letter so personal and so memorable that the donor will want to keep it forever? Yes, it’s possible. But some of us are better shoppers than we are writers. Why not give a gift bag, too?

I agree: you can’t buy gifts for every single donor. It would take too much time and cost too much money.

Imagine, though, the amazement that would spread across your selected donor’s face when you presented gifts chosen especially for him or her!

The Most Personal Thanks You Can Give

It’s not how expensive a gift you choose that shows your donor how much you appreciate her. It’s the way the gift uniquely fits them.

My wife Rona and I have been going to the same doctor for twenty-five years, and every time we go, we chuckle at the classic posters on the walls. They say things like “Dr. Tanner’s Tonic Tames the Nerves,” or “Drink Coca-Cola to Calm Your Stomach.”

We appreciate the humor–from a doctor who keeps up with the latest medicine! So, when Rona and I were on vacation and saw a $9 book full of that old-style advertising, we had to buy it for Dr. Bershel. We wrapped it up with a bow, stopped by her office, and left it for her.

The doctor left us voicemail AND sent us a card to tell us how excited she was by the gift. “I’m going to blow up some of the pages in that book and make them into new posters!”

It didn’t cost very much, but to her, it was priceless.

How to Give Thanks in a Gift Bag

If you want to make a donor happy the way we made our doctor happy, you’ll need two things.

First: know your donor.

Find out what he or she really likes. Ask your staff and Board members, “Who knows this person?” And do your research online. Finding out their favorites may be as simple as visiting their Facebook page.

If they have a taste for something unusual, even better! Giving a “cat person” a gift for their cat is easy: there’s cat merchandise everywhere. Giving a ferret fancier a gift card for The Book Ferret…now, that shows that you have really noticed who they are (besides a checkbook).

Second: know who will find a gift they like.

If you are the letter writer and not the shopper in your office, delegate this task. Perhaps your agency does a Secret Santa or a Yankee Swap. Who is it that always looks forward to it and always comes up with the best presents?

Ask that person if you can send them on a very important mission–and give them the budget to do it. Let them do it on their own schedule, because the donor is not expecting it, so there is no deadline.

For the person who enjoys shopping, the chance to put together a thank-you basket for your donor won’t be a burden. It will be a gift!