Helping you win loyal friends through your communications
You might be going back to previous donors and asking for general support. Or, you might be getting ready to request a particular list of supporters to fund your summer programs.
Either way, the first thing you should do is… read my guest post on John Haydon’s blog! https://www.johnhaydon.com/spring-fundraising-appeal-letter-checklist/
This simple checklist will make your donors happy and raise more money for your organization. No fooling! So, click on the link and read the five tips now.
One of the most popular posts on this blog is called The Ideal Thank-You Letter Went Out Today! It lists seven ingredients you need to stir in to your thank-you letter to make sure donors will read it, appreciate it, and remember it when you ask them to give again.
It’s more than halfway through 2017. I’ve made some donations this year, and received some thank-you letters. Here’s how they compare to the ideal, a checklist of all seven points.
Happily, 100% of the TY’s my wife and I received got this right. Nobody said, “Dear friend.” 10% started out “Dear Mr. and Mrs. Fischman,” and another 10% called us by our first names and last name. 80% used our first names, like friends.
Again, 100%. This is progress! But that’s where the good news ends.
Nearly all the letters bragged about the organization’s work and cast me as a very junior partner. I read a lot of general statements about how the organization couldn’t do its work without me. They were flattering, but not very convincing.
About a third of the letters included statistics about how many people the organization helped–but I know my $50 is not “providing care to 30,000 patients.” So, that statistic doesn’t mean much to me.
One in ten of the letters reminded me of the problem we both worried about and the solution my donation could help provide: in other words, the things that made me want to give to the organization in the first place. Thank you to those who did! You made me feel good about my gift all over again.
Only one in ten really got it right. Those were the nonprofits who drew a direct connection between my gift and a specific result I cared about. Here’s my favorite example, from Wellstone Action:
Every time a Wellstone-trained progressive convenes a press conference in Oregon, or turns hundreds of young people out to vote in Wisconsin, or is elected to public office in rural Idaho, they have you to thank.
None. Zip. Zilch. Not one of the thank-you letters I received used storytelling to make me feel and remember what my gift accomplished…or why I should I give again.
Nonprofits, I’m disappointed in you! Let me help you figure out how to recognize, collect, recall, and use good stories in your thank-you letters in the future. Sign up for a webinar, Where’s the Story Here? Nonprofit Storytelling for Fun and Profit.
I saw more organizations getting visual in their TY’s this year–but still only 20%. And only half of them used an image to show me the people I’m supporting, and captioned them in their own words. That was what I appreciated most. (I’m talking about you, Interfaith Worker Justice!)
30% of these letters included the dreaded “thask” (a thank-you and a new “ask” on the same page). And I know some organizations raise more money in the short term with this tactic–but in the long run, you will burn through donors instead of making them loyal friends.
I liked the organizations that gave me a chance to see my money at work as the year goes on, on their websites.But that was about them. What could I do, besides give more money?
The Rosenberg Fund for Children’s Jennifer Meeropol “enclosed a card and sticker for our campaign calling on President Obama to exonerate my grandmother, Ethel Rosenberg. You can learn more and sign & share the petition at www.rfc.org/ethel.” That’s the call to action I’m talking about!
All of these thank-you letters included photocopies of a personal signature. As far as I could tell, none of them were actually signed on the spot. That might be too much to expect from a national organization, but if you’re a local organization with a smaller mailing list, this might be your chance to stand out from the crowd!
Only 20% of the organizations had added a personal note to the thank-you letter. This dismays me. Sure, it’s harder to send a TY in a timely manner AND personalize it–but it’s worth doing both. And it gets easier if you have a good donor database and a story bank, right at hand.
Please use this post as your checklist when you thank donors. Get ready now to send out the ideal thank-you letter this year!
Are you trying to come up with an original way of thanking your donors this year? Don’t worry too much about that. Instead, follow comedian Milton Berle’s advice: “If you’re going to steal, steal from the best.”
(It must be good advice. Other people stole the quote from him!)
There are lots of models for saying thank-you out there. Here are my top ten.
2. Ann Green tells you to create a thank-you experience that begins with the thank-you landing page on your website and goes on through email, mail, and phone calls.
3. If you’ve ever considered using video for your thank-yous to donors, take a look at these examples presented to you by Bloomerang.
4. Joe Garecht says you can take the classic thank-you letter to a whole new level. Take a look at his sample letter. And Pamela Grow’s thank-you letter template, too!
5. While you’re at it, take a look at my blog The Ideal Thank-You Letter Went Out Today–one of the most popular I’ve ever written–because you want to know the single most important thing about thanking your donors.
6. Gail Perry gives you a checklist of do’s and don’ts if you want to write a killer thank-you letter.
7. It’s a lot easier to say thanks if you develop an “attitude of gratitude” in everyday life. Mary Cahalane shows you how thanking donors can make you happy.
8. A thank-you can win the trust of your donor. Kivi Leroux Miller says your TY can be specific about how the gift is being used and show results: two things donors say they want above all else!
9. Rachel Muir tells us about The Best Thank-You Letter I Never Got, in her guest post on John Haydon’s blog. Do you donate? Can you put yourself in the shoes of the donor? Follow the golden rule of nonprofit writing.
10. Does someone at your nonprofit say, “Let’s just send out the same letter we sent before”? Lisa Sargent suggests you do a thank-you letter audit–and she provides a 17-point checklist to help you show the skeptics where you could be doing better.
Are you as good at building loyalty as an airline?
Thank you for flying our nonprofit!
Every time I’ve flown in recent years, I’ve heard the flight crew say something like this upon landing. “We know you have many choices for your air travel. Thank you for choosing North-South-East-West Airlines.”
Your donors have many choices about what to do with their money. They could give it to another nonprofit in your field. They could give it to a completely different cause. They could blow it on pizza and beer. They could leave it to their grandchildren.
But they chose to make a gift to you. You are better off because of it. And you want them to make that same choice next time.
So, it’s worth sending that donor the best expression of thanks you can. Especially when you have so many good ideas to steal!