Future Fundraising Now

Thank donors so they want to keep giving

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by

Jeff Brooks
in

Have you thanked your excellent donors lately? Here are some donor-thanking ideas from Ann Green’s Nonprofit Blog, at Have You Thanked Your Donors Lately?


  • Send a card
  • Share your mid-year accomplishments
  • Create a thank you photo or video
  • Use your newsletter to thank your donors
  • Do something special for your donors
  • Make an investment to thank your donors

The thank-you I think matters most is a written note thanking the donor for a specific gift. It should have these characteristics:


  • Prompt: mailed no more than 48 after you receive the gift.
  • Specific: Thanking the donor for what she gave to (not for her “support”).
  • Relevant. In her language, not your internal jargon or accounting-speak.
  • Emotional. Just as emotional as the appeal that prompted the gift.

    Comments

    2 responses to “Thank donors so they want to keep giving”

    1. Sara Mansfield Avatar
      Sara Mansfield

      Recently one of my clients was told by another consultant, (whom they choose not to work with), that “donor care is a waste of time”.
      Whether I have been client-side or working as a consultant or living as a normal human being, saying ‘thank you’, being thanked and being appreciated has NEVER been a waste of time or resource.
      True, the impact can’t always be measured, but it has been often enough for us to know that thanking supporters and keeping them engaged increases LTV.
      And, as my great-aunt once demonstrated to me, a simple ‘thank you’ for a small cash gift means the world to the giver. Without it, they may not bother again.

    2. Sara Mansfield Avatar
      Sara Mansfield

      Recently one of my clients was told by another consultant, (whom they choose not to work with), that “donor care is a waste of time”.
      Whether I have been client-side or working as a consultant or living as a normal human being, saying ‘thank you’, being thanked and being appreciated has NEVER been a waste of time or resource.
      True, the impact can’t always be measured, but it has been often enough for us to know that thanking supporters and keeping them engaged increases LTV.
      And, as my great-aunt once demonstrated to me, a simple ‘thank you’ for a small cash gift means the world to the giver. Without it, they may not bother again.

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    The future of fundraising is not about social media, online video, or SEM. It’s not about any technology, medium, or technique. It’s about donors. If you need to raise funds from donors, you need to study them, respect them, and build everything you do around them. And the future? It’s already here. More.

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    Jeff BrooksJeff Brooks has been serving the nonprofit community for more than 35 years and blogging about it since 2005. He considers fundraising the most noble of pursuits and hopes you’ll join him in that opinion. You can reach him at jeff [at] jeff-brooks [dot] com. More.

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    The future of fundraising is not about social media, online video, or SEM. It’s not about any technology, medium, or technique. It’s about donors. If you need to raise funds from donors, you need to study them, respect them, and build everything you do around them. And the future? It’s already here. More.

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    About the blogger

    Jeff Brooks has been serving the nonprofit community for more than 30 years and blogging about it since 2005. He considers fundraising the most noble of pursuits and hopes you’ll join him in that opinion. You can reach him at jeff [at] jeff-brooks [dot] com.