Should big donors get better thanking?

Every once in a while, I’ve been asked to write a “special” version of a donor thank you letter for “major donors.”

The reason: Bigger donors should get better thanking.

As a strategy, better thanking for bigger donors seems like a good idea. But there’s a problem:

You know the size of a gift, but you don’t know how “generous” a gift is.

That $50,000 donation may be a big deal for you, but for the donor it might be unimportant, little considered, not a large amount. Not really generous from the heart. It just happens to be for a large amount.

And that $20 donation? It could be prompted by a lot of love, connection, and loyalty. It might be a significant sacrifice for the donor.

You don’t know. I don’t blame you if you feel more grateful for the $50,000 than for the $25. But how the gift feels to you may have no relationship to how it feels for those donors.

And here’s the part that should haunt your dreams: many major donors start out as typical donors. They’re “auditioning” you before they scale up their giving. And many low-end donors might include you in their will if you build a relationship with them. (The average charitable bequest in the US is $38,000. Most of that comes from donors who never qualified for major donor treatment.)

The only difference you should consider for high-end donors is this: You can (and should) spend more thanking and cultivating your top donors. That’s a good business decision.

You might spend a full working day going to the home of a first-time donor who gave $50,000 — to spend time thanking them and getting to know them. You may discover that any future donations are unlikely. Or you may see that there’s more coming at this high level.

A time-consuming personal visit with a $20 donor would be a risky investment — unlikely to have good return.

But all donors and all donations are valuable.

So if you discover a more gracious, loving way to say thank you to high donors — say that to all your donors.