See what thanking donors can do for your fundraising

So often, our fundraising tests look too narrowly at something we do. Here’s a test that didn’t fall into that habit. You can read it in a great study by the Centre for Sustainable Philanthropy, Learning to Say Thank You (downloadable PDF).

Half the donors got an out-of-the-blue general thank-you letter, followed four weeks later by a renewal appeal. The other half just got the renewal appeal.

A lot of tests would have just looked at the outcome of the thank-you letter in isolation. Which would probably have been: It cost us to send it, and we got nothing in return. If that’s all you looked at, you could easily conclude that the thank-you was a pointless expense, and shouldn’t be done again.

But this test was looking at a bigger picture.

And here are the results: Both groups responded to the renewal appeal at the same rate. But the group that got the thank-you letter had an average gift of $112.78, while the group who didn’t get it had an average gift of $67.46.

That’s a 67% lift in average gift. We don’t get differences that big very often in direct-response testing.

Your results may differ. But this supports something we know to be true: Thanking donors is good. Not just polite and nice, but good for the bottom line.

If you’re looking for a game-changer in your fundraising program, look at thanking donors. Find more and better ways of thanking. That’s where you’ll uncover untapped potential: More response, higher gifts, more upgrading, better retention.

Thanking is the frontier for fundraisers who want to find breakthroughs!