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7 ways to thank a donor
by David A. Mersky
Did you know that over 20% of giving happens in the last two days of December? With all those gifts, there will be lots of thank you letters!
What is the difference between organizations that acknowledge and recognize a donor once or twice after receiving a gift vs. seven times or more?
Thousands and thousands of dollars.
Before you say that you don’t have the time to thank someone seven times, please know that we do not mean that you, personally, should call this person that many times. In fact, that might be considered stalking.
Instead, we want your organization to determine seven high impact, personal messages of appreciation and/or forms of recognition for each donor that the donor will also value. While this may seem intimidating, think about the letters, the calls, the listings and updates to the marketing materials and other tasks that can, and should, be spread among the entire leadership of the organization – both staff and volunteer.
This is the point where you say, “if you think it is hard for me to make phone calls and write letters, getting anyone else to do it will be seven times as hard.” This may be true at first, but leadership must be invested in the long-term success of the organization, and there is no better way of nurturing that investment than through the creation of personal relationships. Creating such long-term relationships, including establishing a series of ways in which the donor knows that a gift was greatly valued and enthusiastically appreciated ensures the development of life-long relationships. Brainstorming to find ways that the donor can be publicly recognized in a monthly bulletin, email newsletter, signage at an event and even in your Annual Report, will provide more than just a way to let people know who has supported you in the past year. It is a way in which a donor’s peers can see exemplary generosity that they would do well to emulate.
What are the seven ways you can thank a donor?
- A personalized thank you note from the person who solicited the gift.
- A personalized thank you from the Chair of the Board or President on behalf of the organization.
- A personalized thank you note from the Executive Director or CEO.
- A personal telephone within 3 days of the gift having been made from a staff member.
- A personal telephone call within 30 days from a member of the board.
- An acknowledgement in the newsletter in a section on “Gifts Received.”
- Six months later, a follow up report again thanking the donor for the gift and telling the donor what has been accomplished with the contribution.
Want more ideas?
8 – List the donor’s name in the Annual Report among all donors at the same level.
9 – A public display within the organization’s offices and/or at an event.
Those personalized notes and phone calls only take a few minutes each. If these letters and phone calls don’t seem to make the top of the priority list consider some creative ways to make it easier on yourself.
- Schedule pop-ups in fundraising management software to produce the letters and remind you that a call is to be made today.
- Have an administrative assistant give you an addressed and stamped envelope along with two pieces of the organization’s stationery.
- Schedule a call a day into your calendar as you would if you were to meet with this person; it is just as important to remember to make the call.
- Have a list of calls you can use as a break from the intensity of another project – knowing you will need a few breaks a day.
Never send a letter with two signatures
This is one of my pet peeves and with good reason. A letter with two signatures is impersonal. This donor devoted time to consider the organization – you should do the same in return. Take the extra two minutes and send two letters. It will create twice the impact, twice the positive impressions on the donor and, hopefully, twice the donation next year.
Marc – great tips. I especially like the one about not putting 2 signatures on a thank you letter.
Helping with thank you letters and thank you phone calls is a great way to involve board members who are reluctant to participate in other fundraising activities.
As you know, it is much more expensive to acquire a new donor than it is to keep an old one, so why not invest some time by thanking donors and keeping them around?
Thanks Mark, for this great (and timely post).
One of my organizations recently did a “thank you note-a-thon” during intermission at their annual meeting this year. Pens, notecards, names and sample scripts were made available. The board loved it (and I’m sure that the donors did too).
As to the six-month follow-up, how about making the interaction fun? Fun? Yes, fun! Check out this idea: http://sofii-foundation.blogspot.com/2010/11/beat-statistics-by-falling-in-love-with.html.
Lastly, during these economic times, it’s not enough to merely thank — we’ve got to thank well. Lisa Sargent gave some terrific pointers on penning the perfect thank you letter in this guest post: http://www.pamelagrow.com/1079/how-hopefound-says-%E2%80%98thank-you%E2%80%99-and-how-they-can-help-you-say-thank-you-too/. Something every organization can learn from.
Hi Mark,
Thanks for the timely post. I am in the middle of writing thank yous in response to our annual appeal letter and I appreciate the extra inspiration…
I was just going to add…
At our agency, donors’ gifts go into use immediately and when I hear a great story, I like to include it in my thank you notes.
For example, a donor gave $150 to a special fund in our agency that provides emergency assistance for food, housing, etc. Almost the next day, a single mom with four children in our care reported that they were $200 short in rent and if they didn’t pay within the week, they would be evicted from their apartment!
Thanks to the donor’s $150 gift and some other money in the fund, we knew we had enough to cover this family’s rent. We did so immediately—then, I made sure to tell the donor the story.
Of course, this was a unique situation and (thankfully) stories like this don’t happen everyday of the week at our agency. But, I think it is still possible to use storytelling in other creative ways too. I like to integrate past stories of how people have been served at our agency, as well as profiles of people who are in our programs right now.
QUESTION:
I have a question about recognition lists… have you seen anyone list individual donors on their website? I was considering this, but would donors perhaps dislike being listed on the Internet?
we just finished our annual “Thank-a-thon” where we call every donor who gave any amount in the last 12 months – just to say thank you. We ask if we could take a couple of minutes to tell them a story of how their donations made a difference, if they say yes, then we share that. If they say no, then we let them know that we only called to say thank you for their generosity.
The responses are always amazing.
HI marc,
Thanks for the tips on the many ways to thank donors.
Don’t forget those who made smaller donations. The lifetime value of those donors may be larger then you think!
I carry a box of thank you cards with me so that if I have some unexpected down-time I can write one or more thank you notes.
Merry Christmas!
Thanks Roger! Great point!