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TY Thursday: Looking for Ideas on How to Thank Donors?

December 24, 2020 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Thank You, LauraWhy is it so important to thank your donors? Because you want them back.

The first time a person makes a gift to your nonprofit, it’s a test. Deliberately or unconsciously, they are asking, “Will you notice that I gave? Will it make a difference? Did I do the right thing?”

Thank them early and often, and you will move in the direction acquiring a loyal donor for life. Ignore them, or send them a perfunctory acknowledgment that looks like a receipt, and the next time you ask they may not even remember you.

Top Five Ways to Thank Donors

Here are the most popular posts on this blog in 2020 about thanking donors. How many of them can you use right now and in 2021?

  1. TY Thursday: I Wrote This Poem Just for You: Here’s one way to say thank you that you might not have thought of. Send them a poem!
  2. TY Thursday: The Ideal Thank-You Letter: So much more than “Your gift is tax deductible.” The thank-you letter is the start of a beautiful friendship.
  3. TY Thursday: Your Board Will Thank You for Doing This: Every thank-you matters, but an expression of gratitude from a Board member to a donor matters more.
  4. TY Thursday: A Toast to You, Generous Donor! (Because the essence of a toast is not the liquid you drink. It’s the words you say.)
  5. 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.”

Give these tips a try, then write us back and let us know how they worked! (Thank you in advance for writing back.)

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TY Thursday: Thanking Donors is Good for Your Health

April 30, 2020 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Dennis with mask

How are you feeling, reader? I hope you’re safe at home, and keeping your distance while wearing a mask when you go out.

If you show symptoms of the coronavirus, don’t be bashful, call your doctor. If you need food, or other help, don’t be shy, call your neighbor. We can help one another.

There’s one other thing you can do to stay healthy, and it may surprise you.

Thank your donors.

Saying thank you is good for your mental health Click To Tweet

A lot of people aren’t used to working from home. Seeing the same four walls every day. Being cooped in with family, and being kept out of our usual social communities. Doing everything online.

In these circumstance, it’s not selfish–it’s vital–to do things that make us feel happy. Mental health boosts our immune systems, and gratitude helps renew and replenish our mental health.

As reported in Inc. magazine, “A team of researchers out of Indiana University led by Prathik Kini recruited 43 subjects suffering from anxiety or depression. Half of this group were assigned a simple gratitude exercise — writing letters of thanks to people in their lives — and three months later all 43 underwent brain scans.”

The results?

The participants who’d completed the gratitude task months earlier not only reported feeling more gratefulness two weeks after the task than members of the control group, but also, months later, showed more gratitude-related brain activity in the scanner.

And their attitude of gratitude is linked with happiness, optimism, calmness, willpower, and other psychological benefits.

“Something as simple as writing down three things you’re grateful for every day for 21 days in a row significantly increases your level of optimism, and it holds for the next six months. The research is amazing,” Harvard researcher and author Shawn Achor told Inc.com.

Be good to yourself: say “thank you”

Writing thank-you letters is a way to express gratitude. We know donors want it. We know nonprofits benefitHappy grateful from it. And now, we know it’s a work task you can carry you that will actually be good for you.

So, why not try it? Write three thank-you letters every day for the next twenty-one days. You’ll be making your outlook brighter AND making donors feel appreciated. A happy result!

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Fundraising Tuesday: What Can We Do in Just One Month?

October 29, 2019 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Giving TuesdayA worthy nonprofit recently asked me:

We’ve participated in Giving Tuesday for several years, and recently, the amount of giving we’ve seen that day has dropped. What can we do over the next month to get it back up again?

My answer?

If you want good results on December 3, then use the entire month of November to thank your donors. Click To Tweet

In case you haven’t heard, Giving Tuesday was created when two organizations, the 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation, came together in 2012, about a month before that year’s Thanksgiving. They reasoned that if there was a “Black Friday” for buying retail, and a “Cyber Monday” for buying online, why not a day set aside for the joy of giving?

Since then, many nonprofits have created Giving Tuesday campaigns. Results varied. Some made a lot of money without reducing the donations they received in their end-of-year campaigns: the best of both worlds! Others found the returns on Giving Tuesday didn’t justify their efforts.

Today’s question comes from a nonprofit that used to find Giving Tuesday worthwhile but is worried about what to expect in 2019. Is there anything they can do to boost donations when they have only one month to work on it?

Say the words: THANK YOU

You can say them in a letter, by phone, in a thank-a-thon.

You can say them in an email, poem, or  video.

You can say them in your newsletter, or you can say them when you send out your welcome packet.

In a box, with a fox

You can say “Thank you” in a box, or you can say “thank you” to a fox–if you’re Dr. Seuss! But remember to say those magic words.

Don’t imply. Don’t leave the donor wondering. Thank them.

How many ways can you say “thank you”?

A smaller organization might need to pick one or two of these methods and spend the month just sending email, or calling donors.

A larger organization–one that actually has a development department, or heavens, separate development and communications departments!–might be able to do several of these.

Choose as many ways to say thank you as you’re sure your nonprofit can do well.

 

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