TYThursday Archives - Page 13 of 41

TY Thursday: Nonprofits’ Thanksgiving is Every Day

January 11, 2018 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

As I write this in January, New Year’s is just past, and Martin Luther King Day is coming soon. If you’re a nonprofit, however, every day is Thanksgiving…or should be.

Yes, I know it’s only been weeks since your last appeal. You sent a thank-you letter to each donor back then. (In fact, maybe you sent the ideal thank-you letter.) But have you been ignoring them since then?

You neglect donors at your peril. Donors notice when and how often you’re in touch. If they say, “That organization only writes me when they want money!”, how likely are they to respond the next time?

Have you heard the rule that you should thank a donor seven times before asking him or her for money again? Maybe you wondered how in the world you’re supposed to do that. How many ways can you say thank you?

Here are 20 creative ideas for showing your gratitude, courtesy of our friends at Lifehack.

Make a gift bag. It doesn’t have to be expensive–just personal.
Give a toast. You don’t need a special event–you could do this over lunch. Make a video and send it to the donor. Picture the smile when they see it!
Write a poem. Say why they deserve your thanks.
Send them custom gift labels.
Give a gift card. (Get the gift card donated, too.)
Send a hand-written letter.
Use social media to give thanks in public.
Make your own digital greeting card.
Make a Youtube video.
Bake cookies.
Make surprise gifts for guests at your events.
Put together a flower basket.
Take a picture. Again, it doesn’t have to be professional, just unique. The camera on your phone can capture priceless moments!
Pay it forward. Show them you care about what they care about too.
Do something special for them.
Help them when they’re the ones who need help.
Be there for them.
Listen to them.
Say it another language…especially if they speak it.
Show them some #donorlove, without being asked.

You can’t do all twenty for all your donors. Fine. But which ones can you do?

Make a plan to say thank you to as many of your donors as you can, each month. When annual appeal time comes around again, they’ll think of you as a friend.

TY Thursday: Thank Like a Human Being, Even When You Automate

January 4, 2018 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Don’t let this machine write your nonprofit thank-yous

Did you make donations online at the end of 2017? If so, you probably saw a lot of email acknowledgments arrive in your inbox, automatically.

How many of them 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

When 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, 2017, 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

Getting 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.

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 Personal

No matter what tool you’re using to acknowledge gifts, there’s a way to edit the acknowledgment. Before 2017 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 2018 is the year to get another tool. The time you spend now will turn into happier donors this coming December…and forever after.

TY Thursday: Are You Leaving Out the Actual Thanks?

December 14, 2017 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Do you follow @DennisFischman on Twitter? If so, I’ve thanked you–I hope. (Did I forget? I apologize!)

But if you’re a nonprofit and you forget to say thank you, then you owe an apology to your donor and to yourself.

How I forgot to say thanks

Whenever anybody follows me on Twitter, I make a point of saying thanks.

I don’t always follow back. That depends on what you usually tweet about and whether it’s interesting to me. But I do say “thanks”–because, out of the gazillion people on the web, you chose to spend some attention on me.

So how could I ever forget to say thanks?

Sarah Gallo, who’s on Twitter as @5foottraveler, followed me one Sunday. I wanted to tweet back at her, “TY to @5foottraveler for following!” I copied and pasted her Twitter handle and added the “for following” part, and I was just about to schedule the tweet when I noticed something was missing.

That’s right. The “TY” part.

Fortunately, I caught it in time. But because I even came close to leaving out the thanks, I want to say to Sarah publicly, “Thanks, and safe travels!”

Nonprofits, Don’t Forget to Thank Donors

At your nonprofit, when you acknowledge donations, are you making the same mistake as I did? Are you leaving out the actual thanks?

You could be, if:

Your letter reads like a tax receipt instead of a personal note.
You’re talking about what a great organization you are, instead of what great things the donor’s gift is going to accomplish.
You’re congratulating the donor on helping you achieve your mission, instead of showing how you are going to help the donor realize his or her goals.
When you receive an online gift, you send out an auto-response but never follow it up with an individualized letter or email.
You send out the ideal thank-you letter but then don’t communicate again with the donor until it’s time to ask again for money.

Donor love means never having to say you’re sorry. Don’t forget to thank your donors in a way that’s clear, timely, ample, honest, and ongoing. You won’t regret it.

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TY Thursday: Nonprofits’ Thanksgiving is Every Day

TY Thursday: Thank Like a Human Being, Even When You Automate