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TY Thursday: 5 Ways to Make Your Nonprofit’s Thank You Letters Stand Out

March 2, 2023 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

A guest post from Ann Fellman at Bloomerang

Picture this: You receive a letter in the mail from a nonprofit to which you recently donated. The letter reads, “Dear Donor, Thank you for your generous donation. It’s because of your support that we’re able to achieve our mission.”

How do you react?

You appreciate the thanks, but find it to be a little generic and bland. Plus, the letter doesn’t say anything specific about how the organization used your gift or how you can stay in touch.

Now, let’s switch hats from donor to nonprofit. As a nonprofit professional, you want to make your organization’s thank-you letters memorable and meaningful, whether they’re going to donors or volunteers. But how can you make your supporter communications stand out? Follow these five tips to get started:

1. Send your thank you letters as soon as possible.

Sending out thank you messages as quickly as possible after supporters interact with your organization ensures that you won’t accidentally overlook the thank you process. Plus, it leaves a positive impression on supporters and keeps your nonprofit on their radar.

Whether donors give online, in person, or via direct mail, send a thank you letter right away. This letter should be separate from the automated donation receipt that you email donors right after they give. Take the time to craft a personalized, detailed thank you message and send it within 48 hours of receiving the donation.

If your nonprofit has a large support base, you can automate the thank you process using your donor management system. According to Bloomerang’s donor management software guide, robust donor database systems allow you to keep track of donors’ names and donation history using contact records and profiles. Then, when you use a CRM that has an integrated email marketing system, you can automatically plug donors’ names and donation amounts into each message. This keeps all your data and communications organized in one simplified database.

In addition, you should quickly send thank you notes after your volunteer opportunities. Follow up within a couple of days thanking volunteers for their hard work and recapping what they were able to accomplish during the volunteer opportunity.

2. Personalize each thank you letter.

A personalized letter catches the recipient’s attention, helping your letter stand out in their mailbox or email inbox. Use the information stored in your donor management system to personalize your thank-you notes with donors’ names.

However, personalization doesn’t mean just including each supporter’s name in your greeting. It also means referencing each supporter’s exact contributions to your cause and if possible the campaign or program they supported.

For example, you should thank a donor for their $78 gift sent on November 18, 2022 to your annual fund, or a volunteer for the three hours they spent sorting donated food on a Saturday morning.

Supporters will appreciate that you’ve taken the time to identify and recognize the specific ways they’ve advanced your mission.

3. Provide a compelling progress update.

Saying thank you to donors is powerful, but it’s even more powerful when you explain to them that your organization couldn’t propel its mission without their help.

Make sure your thank you notes show donors how their gifts made a positive impact on your cause. Describe the project or program that you were able to improve with their help.

For example, you might say, “Because of your $30 donation, a local elementary school student will be able to receive a brand new school backpack.”

It’s helpful to write your thank you letter in the form of a story. Stories help create emotional connections and bring your mission to life for donors and volunteers.

Meyer Partners’ guide to nonprofit storytelling recommends identifying a single protagonist and telling their story using interviews, images, and videos. These multimedia elements help donors and volunteers feel much more connected to your mission and those you work with in the community.

4. Handwrite your thank-you notes.

Amid the piles of junk mail your supporters likely receive in their mailboxes, a handwritten thank you note stands out and provides a personal touch. Supporters will be touched that you took the time to write out your gratitude using pen and paper.

It may not be feasible to handwrite thank you letters for every donor or volunteer, so you might focus your efforts on writing notes for long-time supporters.

Also, if you have a lot of letters to write, you can have your donor database generate your letters and leave a space for a short handwritten, personalized note. For instance, you might include a handwritten P.S. that says something like “Thanks, Josh for your support, it means the world to us!”

5. Highlight additional ways to get involved.

Show supporters that you appreciate their involvement, no matter the form it takes, by inviting them to engage with your organization in more ways than one.

For example, use your thank you note to highlight opportunities like:

  • Your annual peer-to-peer fundraiser walkathon event
  • A recurring weekend volunteer opportunity
  • A supporter appreciation gala
  • An advocacy letter-writing campaign

Also, invite supporters to connect with you on multiple platforms by following your social media pages or subscribing to your email newsletter.

As you can see, an effective appreciation letter requires a little more than just a simple “thank you.” With the right timing, thoughtfulness, and personalization, your supporter thank you letters can be a powerful tool for building stronger relationships and bringing in reliable support for your fundraisers, volunteer opportunities, and other initiatives.


Author: Ann Fellman

As the Chief Marketing Officer at Bloomerang, Ann is responsible for the company’s overall thought leadership, brand, marketing, and community outreach programs that work to strengthen relationships with customers and the broader nonprofit community. Ann brings with her more than 24 years of experience in business-to-business (B2B) marketing in the technology industry, including time spent working at a nonprofit organization.

 

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TY Thursday: The Great New Idea that Will Raise More Money

July 7, 2022 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Is your nonprofit looking for a new idea on how to do fundraising? I’ve got one for you.

What is it? Should you spend your time and money on a revamped website? Or get on TikTok? Should you add a chatbot to your Facebook page, or start texting all your donors and prospects?

That’s not it. That’s not the kind of new idea I’m talking about.

magpie sitting on bright shiny objectsChasing the latest piece of technology is a distraction. It’s what they call Bright Shiny Object Syndrome. Unless you are a magpie, you should avoid that!

So what is this great new idea? It’s thanking your donors.

Apparently, that is a new idea for a lot of nonprofits, because they aren’t doing it–or not very well!

Six ways to thank your donors poorly

If you want your thanks to have no meaning, and no effect on your fundraising, here is an idea of what doesn’t work:

  1. Not thanking them at all. (I’m a donor, and yes, this still happens!)
  2. Letting  an automated system send out a thank-you email that sounds like it was written by a robot.
  3. Having that email acknowledgement of the donation be the only “thanks” they get before you ask for money again.
  4. Sending a written thank-you letter that reads like a tax form.
  5. Mailing a more personal thank-you letter that asks for another gift right away (the dreaded “thask”).
  6. Mailing a good thank-you letter–even the ideal thanks–as a “one and done.”

A Thank-You Plan? Now, There’s an Idea!

If you really want to make friends, influence people, keep your donors and increase their lifetime giving to your organization, thanking donors well and often is the most important thing you can do. It cannot be haphazard. You will need a plan.

Here are some steps you can take that will make donors feel your gratitude.

First, edit that auto-response to the donor so it sounds like a person-to-person communication. (If your system won’t let you do that, get another system!)

Second, change your language from “We can’t do it without you” to “Thanks! Here’s what you did, by giving.” (Make the donor the hero.)

Third, have your written thanks go out in the mail within 48 hours of receiving the donation. That means having the ED, the Director of Development, or a Board member on call to sign and personalize the outgoing letters–during the busiest seasons, they should do it every day!

Fourth, invite them to take follow-up steps that get them more involved with the organization that do not involve giving more money. Ask them to follow you on social media, or sign up for your newsletter, to sign a petition or show up for an event.

Fifth, communicate, communicate, communicate! Make sure they never ask “Just what difference did it make when I gave to that organization?” without readily knowing the answer.

Sixth, put your thanks on your communications calendar. Not only will the donors be happy to hear from you, but it will make your day, too!

 

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TY Thursday: Thank Like a Human

May 5, 2022 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Did you make donations online at the end of last year? If so, you probably saw a lot of email acknowledgments arrive in your inbox, automatically.

How many of these so-called thanks sounded like they were written by an automaton?

Most of the emails I received in response to my donation sounded that way. And for the nonprofits I gave to, it’s a missed opportunity.

A Donation is Part of a Relationship

Automation is a great labor-saving device. It means that a lot of fundraisers could celebrate New Year’s Day instead of working on Sunday and the holiday. But consider: how does it work for the donor?

First-time donors

bad dateWhen a donor gives to your organization for the first time, it’s like agreeing to a first date. Immediately, they wonder:

“Did I do the right thing? Do we have as much in common as I hoped we did? Am I going to be sorry I gave, or will it lead to something that can last?”

So imagine going out on a first date and hearing, “Thank you for agreeing to see me on December 29, for a dinner that cost $36.52. Your company for the evening meant a lot to me.”

Not very romantic, is it? And your date probably says that to everyone! So, there’s a good chance that first date–or first-time donation–will be the last.

Renewal donors

breakfast coupleGetting an impersonal message can be even more off-putting to the donor who’s been giving for years.

Imagine a loyal supporter of your organization. She has come to events, contributed items for your silent auction, and told her friends about you. This year, she has given her biggest donation ever, online, using her credit card. And what she got back from you was the same automaton response as everybody else.

It’s as if she’s sitting across the table from you at breakfast smiling because she’s left a present by your plate, and she says, “Happy anniversary, my love.” And you say, “Thank you. Please pass the salt”!

Nonprofits, we can do better than that.

Thanks! Auto-Responses that Show the Love

I want to give credit where credit is due. It takes some work to set up an automatic email to go out as soon as a donation comes in. And it’s better than nothing. Plus, some organizations write the ideal thank-you letter and send it in the mail.

But with just a little more effort, your nonprofit can thank donors like you mean it from the very first email you send. Here are good, better, and best ways of revising your automatic email to donors.

Good: Remind the donor what you do.

On the face of it, that seems silly. They just gave to you, right? They should know what you do! But you may be on their list from last year, and in any case, they may need a reminder before the memory fades. Give them the gift of a reminder.

Example–the Children’s Room in Arlington, MA says:

Your generosity supports our work with children, teens, and families who are coping with the death of an immediate family member, and the educators and professionals who seek to help them.

Better: tell the donor what their donation will do. Make the donor the hero.

Example–MADRE tells me:

Your gift enables women to provide food, shelter, emergency medical care and other critical resources for their families and communities. You give women the tools to build new skills and step up as leaders. And your dedication trains grassroots women to demand justice, and advocate for policies, locally and globally, that protect women’s rights.

Best: add a story.

Don’t just tell your donors they make a difference. Show them how they matter.

Share with them a story about one person (and possibly their family) in trouble, who is already better off “because you helped.”

So far, I am not seeing any of my favorite nonprofits tell stories in their automatic thank-you, and that’s a shame. But for your nonprofit, it’s an opportunity. Be the first one to add a story, and your donors will remember.

Using the Right Tools to Be More Human When You Thank

No matter what tool you’re using to acknowledge gifts, there’s a way to edit the acknowledgment. Before last year fades into memory, please take some time to edit it right now.

Whether you use the good, better, or best models above, you can certainly make your first response to a donor something that sounds like it came from a human being. When you’re done, it can be something you’re proud for your friends to receive!

And if the tool you’re using doesn’t give you enough room to tell a good story? Then this is the year to get another tool. The time you spend now will turn into happier donors this coming December…and forever

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