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Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

TY Thursday: Your Nonprofit Organization’s Best Friend

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loyalty

Who is your organization’s best friend?

Every nonprofit organization has one: the most loyal supporter.  The person who gives as often as she can, or as often as you ask.  The one who volunteers for all your events and brings her friends.

You’d like a thousand like that.  You’d like to clone her.  What if you could?

Businesses have time-tested strategies that create loyal customers.  Some of these strategies work especially well on social media. Nonprofits can adapt and adopt these strategies to thank our donors, volunteers, and supporters.

Danny Maloney, CEO of the social media firm Tailwind, lists “4 Ways to Turn Social-Media Fans Into Raving, Loyal Customers”:

  1. Use a targeted approach.  Find the people who are already talking about you on Facebook, Twitter, and the web at large.
  2. Let your fans know you’re listening.  “If they took the time to share a blog post you wrote or to give you a positive review, be listening for it and thank them.”
  3. Target your special offers.  Businesses give loyalty discounts.  What can you give your most loyal supporters that they would enjoy: a chance to write for your blog? lunch with a celebrity who also supports you? an award?
  4. Curate compelling content.  That’s jargon for finding and sharing information that interests your supporters.  It could be an insider analysis of where their favorite legislation stands in Congress. It could be a video that explains the issue you and they both care about.

Sharing this content with your most loyal supporters makes them feel smarter and happier because they’re associated with you.  It shows them your gratitude. It keeps them coming back to your social media.

And it keeps them advocating for your organization, increasing awareness of you among their friends…who may become your next most loyal supporters.

 

The Ideal Thank-You Letter Went Out Today!

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I have seen the ideal appeal letter.  I haven’t yet seen the ideal thank-you letter.  But it went out today.  Did you send it?

thank-you letter

Write the ideal thank-you letter

If you wrote the ideal thank-you letter, you:

  • Called me by name.
  • Confirmed how much I gave you.
  • Told me how my gift would make a difference.
  • Illustrated my impact with a story.  (Not the one you told me to persuade me to give.  Another story.  You have more than one, right?)
  • Included a photo or image to make my impact real.
  • Told me about how else I can help: by volunteering, or liking you on Facebook, or spreading the word to my friends.
  • Signed it by hand, and wrote something just for me.

Most important: it’s the ideal thank-you letter because it went out today. 

The sooner you acknowledge my gift, the more likely I am to remember it, and give again. Within 24 hours of your receiving my check is ideal.  Within a week is acceptable.  But no matter how long it’s been, don’t put it off any longer.  Send that thank-you letter today.

 

TY Thursday: Nonprofits, I’m Grateful to YOU

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My regular readers (whom I appreciate!) will know that on Thursdays, I’ve been giving advice to nonprofits on how to express their “attitude of gratitude” to their donors. Thank-yous can go far beyond a letter. They can include videos, gifts, and even acts of kindness that make the donor feel you are truly grateful and truly friends.

You can see all those TY Thursday posts by clicking on the link.

Today, I’d like to turn it around. Instead of advising you on how to thank your donors, I want to send you my thanks.

I’m Grateful to You, Nonprofits

Thank you to the nonprofits that help my neighbors meet basic human needs.

Thank you to the nonprofits that help people worldwide appreciate art and literature.

Thank you to the nonprofits that give free legal advice to people in a jam.

Thank you to the nonprofits that work to change policy so people won’t need legal advice so often.

Thank you to the grassroots groups that are mainly friends and neighbors with a 501(c)(3).

Thank you to the huge corporations with big budgets and complex organizational structures who don’t forget that they’re there on a mission.

Thank you to the nonprofit organizations (called synagogues) that gave me my Jewish education, a place to worship in community, and a way to continue the 4,000-year-old tradition that has shaped my life.

Thank you to the nonprofit organizations (called universities) that changed the way I think and taught me life lessons, inside and outside the classroom.

To the people who spend their days working hard for these agencies, way beyond what nonprofits can ever afford to pay them to do, thanks!

To the people who spend their evenings and weekends volunteering for these agencies, whether they lick envelopes, serve meals, or serve on the Board, thanks!

To the receptionists, the face of each organization…

the frontline staff, who see the faces of the people they serve…

the interns passing through, who may remember their time there life long…

the Executive Directors, carrying too much weight on their own shoulders…

and especially, to the fundraisers and communicators who make sure that donors hear about the great difference the work of your organization makes (as I did), and become grateful (as I have), so they continue to support you with their creativity, time, and money…THANK YOU.

It’s your job to thank the donors, and I will keep on sending you tips on how to do it well. But once in a while, you deserve some appreciation too. And you’re welcome.

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