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TY Thursday: Your Favorite Posts of 2021

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Thanking your first-time donors turns them into repeat donors.

Thanking your repeat donors turns them into loyal supporters.

Thanking your loyal supporters makes the lifetime value of their donations multiply. It’s the most important thing you can do to improve your fundraising!

Here are your favorite posts from 2021 about expressing an attitude of gratitude and #DonorLove. Please write me back and tell me which of these you are going to put into practice in 2022!

TY Thursday: How to Thank Recurring Donors

Recurring donors give automatically. When you thank them, though, it should be anything but automatic. You need a deliberate and thoughtful approach to showing donor love to this special group.

TY Thursday: Your Board Will Thank You for Doing This

Getting thanked by a Board member helps donors think, “I made a good decision when I gave.” But it helps your Board of Directors, too.

TY Thursday: A Toast to You, Generous Donor!

The essence of a toast is not the liquid you drink. It’s the words you say. What can you say to make your donors feel extra special–right now?

TY Thursday: Thank You, Donor–You’re Welcome!

A welcome kit (also called a packet or package) tells the donor, “You matter to us. You’re not just a cash cow. We’re in this together for the long haul.” What should go into a welcome kit?

TY Thursday: The Ideal Thank-You Letter

I have seen the ideal appeal letter.  I haven’t yet seen the ideal thank-you letter.  But it went out today.  Did you send it?

 

Sent Your Fundraising Appeal? 3 Things to Do While You Wait

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Waiting for the mailYou’ve written the best fundraising letter you can: maybe, the ideal appeal letter.

It’s in the mail. The donors will get it next week.

Now what? Is there anything you can do besides waiting for the mail? (Or the online payments, of course.)

Yes! Here are three ways you can follow up on that fundraising letter: by phone, by email, and by social media.

Follow Up with a Phone Call

Even a polite voicemail message increases the chances that your donors will renew their support for you this year. But there are worse and better ways to make that phone call.

The worst thing you can do is to call someone who doesn’t want to hear from you by phone. My wife and I tell everyone who calls us, “We prefer not to give over the phone. Mail us.” If they call again, we send our donations somewhere else. And there are lots of people like us!

A good way to reach out is by having a well-trained volunteer call and start by thanking the donor for their past support. Give the donor a sense of accomplishment: “Thanks to you, twenty children had lunch every day this school year.” Tell them, “Your help is still needed.” Ask for a specific amount.

It’s even better if the caller is a donor like them. “Thank you. Here’s what we did together.” Better still if the caller is a donor AND a board member. You’re complimenting your donor by letting them know they’re worth the board’s attention and time.

The best, the absolute best thing you can do? Find a friend of that donor to make the call. Someone who knows them well and can speak to them from the heart about how much they appreciate the donor’s gift. When your friend is grateful for your donation, of course you have to renew!

ET, Phone from Home?

Now, to my mind it’s a real toss-up whether it’s better to ask your volunteers to call from their homes or get them together for a “phone bank.”

  • Ask them to call from home and it’s more convenient for them, but they may forget… and you may have to work harder to find out who they reached and who they didn’t.
  • Invite them to call together and you create camaraderie among those who show up, and you can be on hand to answer any questions, live…but fewer people will volunteer in the first place.

There’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Do what fits your organization the best.

We’ll talk about using email and social media to follow up your fundraising letter in future posts. For now, happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

TY Thursday: 5 Ways Your Board Can Happily Thank Donors

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Over here, you’ve got a pile of donations. You sent each of these donors a thank-you letter, on letterhead, signed by your Executive Director, within a week of when you received their gift. But you haven’t been in touch with any of them personally since then.

And over there, you have your Board of Directors. Several of them have said, “I love this organization. I’ll do anything for this organization–except ask for money. I’m just no good at asking.”

Do you want to make your donors feel flattered and your directors feel useful, all at the same time? Then ask your Board of Directors to start saying thanks.

Donors and Directors, A Match Made in Heaven

Every thank-you matters, but an expression of gratitude from a Board member to a donor matters more. No matter how sincere you are, when you, a staff person at a nonprofit, says thanks, the thought crosses the donor’s mind: “I’m paying your salary.” When a member of your Board of Directors is the one thanking the donor, they have these advantages:

  • They are volunteers. They’re regular people who care about the organization enough to give their precious time.
  • They are donors themselves. When Board members make a monetary contribution, of whatever size is significant for them, they can talk with fellow donors about why the organization matters “to both of us.”
  • They are leaders. It’s impressive when someone who holds a position of authority is the one making the call. It makes the donor feel valued and honored.

Getting thanked by a Board member helps donors think, “I made a good decision when I gave.” But it helps your Board of Directors, too. It confirms their own commitment to the organization…and it gives them valuable firsthand information about how their organization is perceived.

5 Ways a Board Member Can Say “Thank You!”

Thanks in many languages

  1. Add a personal note to a thank-you letter. Especially if the donor knows the Board member, but even if they haven’t met…yet!
  2. Follow up with a phone call. Penelope Burk found that donors who got a call within 24 hours gave 39% more than those who simply received a thank-you letter…and check out Gail Perry’s story of how a thank-you call made her boyfriend a major donor for life.
  3. Throw a party. Maybe one of your Board members loves to entertain. Your staff have been meaning to hold a donor appreciation event for ages but never find the time. Ask the happy host or hostess to have the party at their place. (They will still need help inviting the donors to come, but it’s less work, for more return, than if staff do it.)
  4. Send a gift. Who’s the shop-a-holic on your Board? Ask her to pick out a small but thoughtful gift personalized to your donor, wrap it, and mail it with a note. Your donor will be surprised (and maybe make a new friend for life).
  5. Tell the world. Someone on your Board is on social media all day. Chances are you can figure out who it is–if you don’t know already! Ask that Facebook fanatic to “friend” a donor and then sing his or her praises online. Not only will you be thanking the donor all over again, you’ll be making the donor’s friends ask, “What’s that organization that loves my friend like that?”

If you ask a member of your Board of Directors to thank donors by doing something he or she likes to do anyway, you will have a happy Board, a happy donor base…and a happy result the next time you ask for money!

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