Communicate!

Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

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 dennis@twofisch.com, and let’s make a time to find out!

TY Thursday: Honor Your Donors

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thanks in actionI recently received a thank-you that reminded me of what I’d given, warmed my heart, and made it clear that the people saying “thanks” really knew me. When was the last time you made your donors feel that way?

My day job, of course, is consulting to nonprofit organizations to help them win the loyalty of their donors.

But my longest-running job (although just a few hours each week) is tutoring Jewish students for their bar or bat mitzvah.

It’s an intense relationship. The students, usually at a tender time in their lives, take on a complex task: reading from the Torah and prophets, and leading services, in Hebrew. They study for eight months to a year, and at the beginning, they’re not really sure they will succeed.

Bar mitzvah studyI get the joy of coaching them along and instilling confidence. On the day they actually celebrate becoming full-fledged members of the Jewish community, I’m there to prompt, but mostly to kvell (beam with pride).

Just a week ago–months after they had originally sent me a thank-you note–the family of one my students made a donation in my honor to RAICES, an organization that supports asylum seekers at the southwest border of the U.S.

They knew that I consider the way the U.S. treats these would-be legal immigrants shameful, and that my car wears the bumper sticker Never Again Means Close the Camps.

They made me smile, and they nearly made me cry. And they made me wonder: how many nonprofits are doing as well at saying “thank you” as the Newman/Nedell family?

  • Are you saying “thank you” just once, in a formal letter after receiving a gift? Or do you have a plan for thanking your donors throughout the year?
  • Is your thank-you impersonal, the same for every donor except for name and address? Or does your thank-you tell your donor you know what they care about (which is probably the reason they gave to you in the first place)?
  • Does your thank-you tell your donor, “I see you, and we are on the same side”?
You want to build a relationship of loyalty with your donors. Are you honoring them with your loyalty first? Share on X

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