Fundraising Thank You Letters
| Summary: How to write fundraising thank you letters. Tips
on saying "thank you" to your supporters and donors including the
right time to send donor thank you letters. |
The Power of Thank You
In Fundraising and in Lifeby Katherine Khalife
"I was in line at the grocery store the other day. The cashier was really rude
to people. When it was my turn, I handed her my money, she grabbed it, gave me
my change, and that was it. I couldn't help myself. I asked, 'Would it kill you
to at least say thank you?' She looked up and snapped, 'It's printed on your
receipt.'"
Jay LenoFundraising Thank You - Tip #1
Don't assume that people know you appreciate them or their help. Tell them.
You
know yourself how much a thank you means -- and how good it makes you feel when
someone says it.
Take the time to thank people no matter how busy you are.
It's
not only good for the soul, it's also the best public relations booster there
is.
Fundraising Thank You - Tip #2
Be sure the words "thank you" are in your voice mail greeting.
Nothing is more
irritating than negotiating the endless hurdles of phone system hell --
especially when you don't even get a thank you for going to the trouble.
Thank
your listeners for calling, thank them for being willing to leave a message, or
thank them for their patience.
It doesn't matter exactly what you thank them
for, just that you thank them for making the effort to reach you.
Fundraising Thank You - Tip #3
Send thank you notes and, whenever appropriate, hand write them.
Send them to
donors, to volunteers, to colleagues, and to anyone else who does you a good
turn. In this day of form letters and printed receipts, handwritten thank you
notes are cherished goodwill builders.
And the networks of gratitude they build
can boost careers as well. Management guru Peter F. Drucker, honorary chairman
of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management, attributes much of
his success in life to his early habit of writing 10 to 12 thank you notes a
day.
Fundraising Thank You - Tip #4
Always thank donors.
When it comes to fundraising, saying thank you is essential.
It's hard to imagine it not being a priority for some nonprofits, especially
since people are giving money that they aren't required to give.
But according
to Penelope Burk, author of Thanks! A Guide to Donor-Centred Fundraising, the
number one donor recognition problem "is not acknowledging gifts, period."
Fundraising Thank You - Tip #5
When thanking donors, promptness counts.
It can even make a difference in how
much they'll contribute in the future.
In a test that Burk conducted in
conjunction with the Ontario chapter of the Canadian Paraplegic Association, she
found that new contributors who were called and thanked within 24 hours of
receipt of their gift gave more in subsequent appeals than did those who were
not thanked promptly.
How prompt is prompt?
Donors who were called more than 48
hours after their gifts were received thought they were being solicited for
another donation.
Fundraising Thank You - Tip #6
Make your donor thank you letters warm and personal.
To the recipient, a canned,
overly formal thank you can sometimes feel worse than not receiving one at all.
But unless you're one of the lucky ones who has a natural talent for it, writing
creative, meaningful thank you letters can be a challenge.
Burk says you can
force yourself to be more creative by leaving the thank you for the end. She
suggests, "You might say, I just got your donation, I can't tell you how
important it is, we're putting it into this program, this is what it's going to
do, here is the time line, and you can expect to hear from us again next October
when we're going to tell you what the money has accomplished. And then say thank
you."
Fundraising Thank You - Tip #7
Consider running a Thank-a-thon.
In addition to thanking donors at the time of
their actual gift, Terry Axelrod, author of Raising More Money®: A Step-by-Step
Guide to Building Lifelong Donors, suggests taking thank you one step further by
holding a holiday thank-a-thon.
Making holiday calls to those who gave to your
organization during the year, Axelrod says, conveys the message that "We noticed
you gave. It mattered. We appreciate you."
A sincere thank you is one of the mightiest marketing and fundraising tools
there is. Use its power often and well.
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Copyright © 2001 Katherine Khalife All rights reserved.
Katherine Khalife is publisher of MusemMarketingTips.com and the Museum
Marketing tips e-newsletter, used every month by thousands of cultural
organizations seeking practical tips to improve their marketing. See
http://www.museummarketingtips.com/
for information about her workshops and other services.
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