thank you

Why Ask Why?

Ann Green appeal letters, Communications, donor engagement, donor relations, impact report, newsletter, thank you letters, writing , , , , , ,

As you work on your nonprofit messages, remember the word why. Why, you ask? Because a lot of nonprofit communication doesn’t focus on why something is important. There’s usually a lot of what and how, but not much why.

The typical fundraising letter and newsletter article rambles on about accomplishments without explaining why something matters. Some organizations also like to pour on the statistics. These numbers don’t mean much without more information.

You need to dig deep into why something is important. Imagine you’re a four-year-old who keeps asking, “But why?” over and over again.

Why is what you do important?

Here’s something you might see in a newsletter or impact report.

We expanded our tutoring program to four more high schools.

Okay, but why is that important?

To serve more students.

That’s good, but why is that important?

After six months of weekly tutoring sessions, 85% of the students in our program have improved their math skills, as well as their grades. Many of these students fell behind during remote learning and are still struggling to catch up.

There you go. Tell your donors about the impact you’re making. This is especially important during this time of economic uncertainty. You want to emphasize the importance of your work.

Why should someone donate to your organization?

Do your appeals focus on why it’s important to donate to your organization? Instead of saying something generic like please donate to our year-end appeal, tell a story emphasizing why someone should donate to your nonprofit.

Jason, a 10th grader at Porter High School, can’t stand algebra. It just doesn’t make sense to him. He’s always had trouble with math and fell behind during remote learning. He was still struggling to catch up and afraid he’d have to take that horrible class again. 

Then Jason started weekly tutoring sessions with Brian, a volunteer tutor. It was difficult at first, but thanks to Brian’s patience and guidance, Jason got a B on his last test. 

Many other students fell behind during remote learning and could use a tutor. After six months of weekly tutoring sessions, 85% of the students in our program have improved their math skills. With your help, we can expand our program to serve more students in more schools.

Again, focus on why.

Why is your donor’s gift valuable?

When you thank your donors, do you tell them why their gift is valuable? Give a specific example.

Thank you so much for your generous gift of $50. This will help cover the expenses of our one-to-one weekly tutoring sessions. After six months of these tutoring sessions, 85% of the students in our program have improved their math skills. This is crucial since many of these students fell behind during remote learning and are still struggling to catch up.

It’s all about the why.

Why are you sharing this information?

When you write a newsletter article or something for an impact report, why are you including that information? Will this be something of interest to your donors? If it’s focused too much on your organization and sounds like you’re bragging, then probably not. 

Your donors want information that lets them know how they’re helping you make a difference and why that’s important. Sharing stories is a great way to do that.

Why do you appreciate your donors?

Finally, do your donors know why you appreciate them? You need to tell them this again and again.

Thank you so much for doing your part in helping high school students boost their math skills. We couldn’t do this without you.

Always remember to focus on why.

Does Your Nonprofit Need to Do a Little Spring Cleaning?

Ann Green appeal letters, Communications, database, direct mail, email, planning, thank you letters, writing , , , , , , ,

It’s spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and it’s about time after a frigid winter here in the Boston area, although I can’t say it’s been that warm right now. 

A lot of people use this time of the year to do some spring cleaning. I envy the people who do that because I’m usually not one of them. 

I know I should do more. As much as I dislike cleaning and organizing, I’m happy once it gets done. Often getting started is the hardest part.

Your nonprofit organization may be putting off some version of your own spring cleaning and decluttering. It’s important to make some time to tackle these so-called cumbersome tasks. Just think how happy you’ll be when you’re done. You’ll also make some much-needed improvements to your infrastructure and donor communication.

Here are a few suggestions to help you get started.

Clean up your mailing lists and CRM/database

Has it been a while since you updated your mailing lists? Did you have an influx of address changes, returned mail, and bounced emails after you sent your year-end appeal? This is a good time to clean up and update both your direct mail and email mailing lists.

Don’t wait until right before your next mailing or campaign to clean up your donor data. If it’s been a while since you’ve done this, then you need to do what’s known as data hygiene.

Even though it’s tedious, have someone who’s familiar with your donors (your development director?) go through your mailing lists and CRM/database to see if you need to make any additions, changes, and deletions.

Be meticulous. No donor wants to see her name misspelled, be addressed as Mrs. when she prefers Ms., or receive three mailings because you have duplicate records.

Your CRM/donor database is an essential tool, and it needs to be up-to-date and filled with accurate information about your donors.

Run your donor list through the National Change of Address database. It may cost some money to do this, but it’s worth it if you come out with squeaky-clean data. Do it at least once a year.

Also, if you haven’t already done this, segment your donors into different groups – new donors, returning donors, monthly donors, etc. You may need to make some changes. For example, if a single gift donor starts giving monthly.

You might also want to move some lapsed donors who haven’t donated for several years into an inactive file. Don’t do this until you’ve sent targeted, personalized appeals asking them to donate again. And if you’ve never gotten in touch with any lapsed donors from 2024, you could reach out to them now.

Do the same thing with your email list. It doesn’t make sense to send emails to people who don’t respond to them. Give these people a chance to re-engage, and if they’re not even opening your emails, move them to an inactive file. Don’t worry if people unsubscribe. You’re better off with an email list of engaged subscribers.

Also, if you find you keep saying, “Our database doesn’t let us do that.”, maybe it’s time for an upgrade.

While you’re at it, you could give your donation page a spring cleaning.

Freshen up your messages

Spring is a time to open up the windows and let some fresh air replace the stale air that’s been accumulating in your house over the last several months.

You know what else might be stale – your messages. Take some time to freshen them up, if you haven’t done that for a while. Ideally, you should do this at least once a year. I mentioned this in a recent post, emphasizing that your donor communication needs to be clear, conversational, and specific. Stay away from generic language and jargon. 

There’s a good chance your thank you letters need a refresh. Your thank you letters need to actually thank your donors, not brag about your organization. Also, make sure your automatically generated thank you emails and landing pages don’t look like boring receipts. Create separate templates for new donors, current donors, and monthly donors. 

Thank you messages are one of the most important components of donor communication. Make yours sparkle.

Weed and grow 

People who have gardens spend a lot of time getting rid of weeds to ensure a beautiful garden. I’m not a gardener. I live in a townhouse and don’t have a yard, but even I know I need to cut off the dead leaves on my houseplants to help them grow.

What are your weeds? Perhaps it’s events or grants. These can take a lot of time and don’t always bring in that much money. Plus, if you’ve relied on federal funding here in the U.S., you’ll need to branch out and look into other revenue sources.

A better option is to grow your individual giving program. Start with monthly giving. You can think of this as a houseplant approach, relatively easy to take on and maintain. Then move on to mid-level, major, and legacy giving. These will take more time, just like a seedling that with care and attention will grow into a tree.

As you work on your weeding, this article on simplicity might be helpful. It suggests you do an audit of various aspects of your life and ask –  Is it necessary and is it creating energy? If you answer Yes to both, keep it. If you answer No to both, remove it. If you answer Yes to one, think about it. 

For your nonprofit, the energy question can be turned around and you can ask if something is depleting your energy. You could also ask, is it producing results?

It can be hard to let go. Maybe you’ve held a particular event for years. But like weeds in a garden, it might be prohibiting your growth. Let go of this event (or whatever doesn’t serve you) and find ways to raise money that will help you grow.

Don’t wait too long

I know you’re busy, but you need to take on these initiatives sooner rather than later. Just like the clutter and dust in your home, along with the weeds in your garden, they won’t disappear on their own. The longer you ignore it, the worse it gets. 

Get started on these spring cleaning projects as soon as you can. You’ll be happy once they’re done. Your donors will be happy if they don’t get duplicate mailings and a fundraising letter laced with jargon, but do receive a personalized appeal and a stellar thank you letter. Your organization will also benefit by taking on initiatives and making investments that will help you grow.

Photo by Ryan Harvey

Why It’s Important to Pay Attention to Your Donor Retention Right Now

Ann Green Communications, database, donor engagement, donor relations, donor retention, gratitude, planning , , , , , ,

Donor retention is a perennial problem for nonprofit organizations. Many organizations spend a lot of time and energy on acquiring donors, concentrating more on volume, and don’t seem concerned that they’re churning through different donors year after year.

Another perennial problem is uncertainty and disruption in our world. Right now we’re dealing with cuts in federal funding, tariffs, a plunging stock market, etc, which are creating constant chaos for us. Both your nonprofit and your donors may be feeling financially strained.

Acquiring new donors is more expensive than keeping the ones you already have, so it’s important for you to keep track of your retention rate. You don’t want to lose your donors right now. Granted some may not be able to give at the moment, but just as we saw during the pandemic, many will step up and continue to support you.

There are also reasons donors don’t give again that aren’t financial. Many of these you can control. Maybe you’re losing donors because you’re either not communicating enough or communicating poorly. Fortunately, this is something you can fix, but you need to give it your full attention.

Pay attention to your donor relationships

One of the most important components of fundraising is building relationships with your donors. 

Donor relations should be easier than raising money and it can be fun, too. Make it a priority, as well as something you do throughout the year.

Follow the ask, thank, report, repeat formula and give more attention to thanking and reporting. Your donors are not ATMs. They were drawn to your organization because they felt a connection to your work. They want to feel appreciated and hear how they’re helping you make a difference for your clients/community.

If you don’t pay attention to building relationships, your donors are less likely to give again.

Pay attention to your first-time donors

The retention rate for first-time donors is around 20%. Obviously, we can do better.

If you can get your first-time donors to give again, it’s much more likely they’ll keep giving. That second donation is known as the golden donation. This is why it’s important to engage with your new donors and I hope you’ve done that with your most recent new year-end donors. 

Create a welcome plan that includes a series of messages for new donors. Recruit board members to make thank you phone calls. This is a proven strategy that results in donors giving again.

Let these donors know how much you appreciate this new relationship. If you don’t, it’s likely to be a short relationship. 

But don’t stop there, you also want to acknowledge your longer-term donors and make them feel special.

Pay attention to your lapsed donors

A lapsed donor is someone who hasn’t donated for at least a year. Make a plan to reach out to some of these donors and invite them to give again. Also, ask why they haven’t given. Maybe they forgot. Maybe they can’t afford to give right now. Maybe they were never thanked.

If a donor can’t afford to give right now, stay engaged with them. Hopefully, they’ll give again in the future. Also, some donors may choose to cut back on their giving. Don’t let them choose between an organization that does a great job of thanking them and sending engaging updates and the one that just sends a bunch of boring, generic appeals.

Donor engagement is so important. According to fundraising expert Penelope Burk, 93% of donors are more likely to give again when they feel appreciated and the organization lets them know the impact of their gifts.

Pay attention to growing your monthly giving program

I’m a big fan of monthly giving. Monthly donors have a much higher retention rate – around 90%. Getting more monthly donors is one way to raise your overall retention rate. It’s a great option for donors who are feeling financially strained, because it allows them to spread out their gifts over the year. Monthly donors are also more likely to give an additional donation.

Reach out to your single gift donors who have given at least twice and ask them to join your family of monthly donors. You can also invite donors to give monthly in your welcome package.

Pay attention to your donor communication 

Do you barrage donors with appeals and then go silent for a while? 

Ideally, you want to reach out somewhere between once a week and once a month. And not just with appeals. You need to thank donors and share updates. Remember the ask, thank, report, repeat formula. This is crucial for good donor retention. 

Try to reach out by mail at least a few times a year. It’s more personal and your donors are more likely to see your messages. It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate. A handwritten thank you card or a postcard infographic can be a quick, but effective, way to engage. 

Put together a communications calendar to help you with this. 

You also want to focus on quality. Just because you send thank you letters and newsletters, doesn’t mean you’re actually engaging with your donors. Write a heartfelt, personal thank you and create a newsletter and other updates with content they’ll be interested in.

I know a lot is going on right now, but your donors want to hear about your success and challenges.

Pay attention to your donor data

Something else that will help you with donor retention is to invest in a good CRM/database. This will let you segment donors and personalize their communication. Then you can send targeted communication to new donors, long-time donors, lapsed donors, potential donors, etc. Invest in the best database you can afford. It should pay off.

You may think that paying attention to your donor retention sounds like a lot of work. Well, so is finding new donors. In this current climate of uncertainty, it’s important to pay attention to your donor retention so you don’t lose the donors you already have.

Remember These Four Words – Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat 

Ann Green Communications, donor engagement, fundraising, gratitude, impact report, newsletter, thank you letters, writing , , , , , ,

It’s important for you to remember these four words – Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat If your nonprofit follows this fundraising formula, you should be more successful. 

Many organizations just practice Ask, Ask, Ask. If that’s what you’re doing, are you raising the money you need? Because what’s most important is to thank and report before you ask for another donation. Going a step further, fundraising expert Penelope Burk recommends seven touches before asking for another gift.

Of course, formulas are good in theory, but you can’t just go through the motions. Some organizations practice Ask, Bore, Brag. If you do it well, the Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat formula can help you raise more money, build relationships, and boost your retention rate.

Asking for donations is not all or nothing

Many nonprofit organizations spend a lot of time asking and not that much on thanking and reporting.

At certain times of the year, such as GivingTuesday and year-end, nonprofits blast donors with a bunch of generic appeals. Other organizations are skittish about asking for money. They might bury the ask in the appeal or think donors don’t want to give during uncertain times, such as when there are proposed cuts in federal funding or a recession (absolutely not true). Donors often step up during times of uncertainty, if they can.

A good fundraising appeal starts with a story followed by a clear, prominent ask. You’ll want to repeat your ask at least once more in the appeal. Make sure you include that first ask right away.  Many people don’t read the end of the appeal. One exception to this is the P.S., which you should include.

Your fundraising appeal shouldn’t focus too much on your organization – rambling on about how great you are. Your organization may be great, but let your donors figure that out. Your donors are the ones who are great and they want to hear how they can help you make a difference for your clients/community.

Segment your appeal to the appropriate audience. Thank past donors or reference your relationship to a potential donor. Maybe they’re event attendees, volunteers, or friends of board members.

Address your appeal to a person and not Dear Friend.

Don’t use jargon or other language your donors won’t understand. Instead of saying we’re helping at-risk youth, say something like – With your support, our tutoring program can help more students graduate from high school on time. 

Your appeal should make people feel good about donating to your organization. Think of fundraising as the start or continuation of a relationship, not a transaction.

You can and should also thank and update/report back to your donors in your appeal.

Thanking your donors is all about thanking your donors

Your thank you letters/emails/handwritten notes need to be all about thanking your donors. Sounds obvious, right, but many thank you letters don’t do a great job of saying thank you.

First, your thank you letter (or better yet, a handwritten note) needs to open with something like You’re amazing! or Thanks to You! and not On behalf of X organization.

It shouldn’t come across as transactional and resemble a receipt. This is one of my biggest pet peeves. Yes, you need to acknowledge the donation is tax-deductible, etc, but most donors are more concerned about how their gift made a difference.

You also don’t need to explain what your organization does or ask for another gift. Remember, this is the thanking phase.

Let your donors know the impact of their gift. For example – Thanks to your generous donation of $50, a family can get a box of groceries at the Westside Community Food Pantry. This is crucial since we’re seeing more people coming in due to rising food prices.

Address your thank you letter to a person and not Dear Friend.

Recognize each donor. Is this the first time someone has donated? If someone donated before, did she increase her gift? Acknowledge this in your letter/note.

While you shouldn’t ask for a donation in a thank you letter, you can provide an update.

Let your donors know the impact of their gifts

The most common way to report back or update donors is with a newsletter. These can be print, electronic, or a combination of both. You should definitely thank your donors in your newsletters and other updates. You can also ask for a donation. Many organizations put a donation envelope in their print newsletter and it’s a good way to raise additional revenue. It’s less successful in an e-newsletter. If you include too many calls to action in an email message, sometimes donors don’t respond to any of them. Also, if you do include an ask in your newsletter, make sure some of your other updates don’t include a donation request.

Your newsletter shouldn’t sound self-promotional and focus on all the wonderful things your organization is doing. Donors want to see the impact of their gifts, not hear you brag. Share at least one story. Client stories are best. Use phrases like Because of you and Thanks to donors like you. In addition, include engaging photos and other content your donors would like to see.

Another way to update your donors is with an impact report. I like that term better than annual report. You can also do one of these more than once a year. Shorter, more frequent updates are better than one of those long, boring traditional annual reports. Be sure to focus on how your donors helped you make a difference. I’m not a fan of asking for a donation in an impact report, but you will want to pour on the gratitude. 

Something else you can do is send a Donor Care Letter. It’s a way to share updates without putting together an actual newsletter. I always like to recommend engaging by mail. If you’re worried about costs, reach out with a postcard. You can and should also send frequent updates by email and social media.

Repeat this throughout the year

The key word here is repeat. Be sure to follow the Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat formula throughout the year. Most likely, you’ll need to do more thanking and reporting than you’re doing right now. Try to stay in touch with your donors at least once a month. A communications calendar can help you with this.

Remember, the Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat formula should help you raise more money, build relationships, and boost your retention rate. The Better Fundraising Co. refers to this as the Virtuous Circle.

Create an Attitude of Gratitude at Your Nonprofit

Ann Green Communications, direct mail, donor engagement, donor relations, donor-centered, gratitude, planning, thank you letters, writing , , , , , , ,

We all like to feel appreciated and that includes your donors. Thanking your donors should be a priority for your nonprofit organization. Is that the case? Unfortunately, the answer is usually no.

Thanking your donors is not just something you do after you receive a donation and then do nothing for a while. You need to show gratitude all year round and with Valentine’s Day coming up, that’s a great opportunity to thank your donors and show them how much you appreciate their support.

Maybe you would rather not go the Valentine’s Day route, which may seem superficial considering everything that’s going on in the world. The U.S. is not a calm place to be right now. But Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be just for couples and we could all use a lot of joy and kindness. 

Whatever you decide, you should still do something to show appreciation this month (and every month). The holidays are over and February can be a dreary month if you live in the Northern Hemisphere. Many of us are dealing with frigid temperatures and what’s going on when places like Houston and New Orleans are getting measurable snow?

This is also a good opportunity to keep in touch with the people who gave to your year-end appeal, especially first-time donors. If you haven’t shown any appreciation since your year-end appeal, don’t wait much longer.

Your donors have the option to give to countless nonprofit organizations, but they chose yours. I like this quote from Mark Phillips –“They are not your donors; you are one of their charities.” Don’t they deserve to feel appreciated?

Here are a few ways you can thank your donors now and throughout the year.

Create a thank you photo

Make your donor’s day with a great photo like this one.

You can send thank you photos via email and social media, use one to create a card, and include one on your thank you landing page.

Make a video

Videos are a great way to connect with your donors. They’re simple, yet effective, so don’t worry if you weren’t a film major. It’s not hard to create a video.

One idea for your video is to show a bunch of people saying thank you. You’ll want your video to be short, donor-centered, and show your organization’s work up close and personal. You can also create personalized videos, which are always a nice gesture.

Your thank you landing page is the perfect place to put a video. This is your first opportunity to say thank you and most landing pages are just boring receipts (and receipts are unacceptable when it comes to showing gratitude). You can also put your thank you video on your website and share it by email and social media.

Send a card

A handwritten thank you card will also brighten your donor’s day. If you don’t have the budget (Although you should have a decent mail/print budget. More on that below.) to send cards to everyone, send them to your most valuable donors. These may not be the ones who give you the most money. Do you have donors who have supported your organization for more than three years? How about more than five years? These are your valuable donors. Don’t take them for granted.

That said, I do think you should make every effort to send a card to ALL your donors at least once a year. You can spread it out so you mail a certain number of cards each month, ensuring all your donors get one sometime during the year. You could also opt for a thank you postcard.

Many organizations don’t send thank you cards, so you’ll stand out if you do.

Share an update 

In addition to saying thank you, share a brief update on your success and challenges. Emphasize how you couldn’t have helped someone without your donor’s support. For example – Thanks to you, Steven won’t go to bed hungry tonight. His family has been struggling to make ends meet right now.

Phrases like Thanks to you or Because of you should dominate your newsletters, impact reports, and other updates.

How you can do better

Make this the year you do a better job of thanking your donors. Remember, it should be a priority.

Thank your donors as soon as you can and send a thank you note/letter or make a phone call. Electronic thank yous aren’t good enough.

Be personal and conversational when you thank your donors. Don’t use jargon or other language they won’t understand. Write from the heart, but be sincere. Give specific examples of how your donors are helping you make a difference.

Also, make sure your thank you note/letter puts gratitude front and center. You don’t need to explain what your organization does, brag, or ask for another donation. You have plenty of opportunities to ask for donations, and if you do a good job of thanking your donors you can raise more money. Plain and simple, the purpose of a thank you letter is to thank your donors.

I’m a big fan of communicating by mail, even if it’s only a few times a year. It’s much more personal. Yet, many nonprofits are skittish about spending too much on mailing costs.

If your budget doesn’t allow you to mail handwritten cards, is there a way you can change that? You may be able to get a print shop to donate cards. You could also look for additional sources of unrestricted funding to cover cards and postage. Think of these as essential expenses for your essential donors.

Maybe you need a change of culture – a culture of gratitude. This comes from the top, but you also need to get your board, all staff, and volunteers invested and involved in thanking your donors. 

Ideally, thanking your donors should be something you enjoy. If you think of it as a chore, it will show. If you can visualize your donors choosing to give you a gift, that can help put you in gratitude mode.

You can’t say thank you enough. Make a commitment to thank your donors at least once a month. Create a thank you plan to help you with this. Planning ahead and creating systems makes a difference.

Keep thinking of ways to let your donors know how much you appreciate them. You don’t even need to wait for a holiday or special occasion. Just thank your donors because they’re amazing and you wouldn’t be able to make a difference without them. Don’t they deserve that?

Read on for more information about how you can create an attitude of gratitude and make your donors feel appreciated.

#21daysofthankology

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How Are You Building Relationships With Your Donors?

Ann Green Communications, donor engagement, donor relations, donor retention, donor-centered, gratitude , , , , ,

Why does making a donation often feel like a transaction? Organizations get so caught up in the raising money part that they forget about building relationships with their donors.

Giving Tuesday is the worst example of this, with Year End close behind. Generally, it happens way too often.

Remember this – Building relationships is just as important as raising money. 

The concept of relationship fundraising has been around for a while, even though it’s not always implemented. Many nonprofits seem to focus too much on meeting their revenue goals, which of course is important.

That said, it’s hard to keep raising money if you don’t build a good relationship with your donors. The two go together. Every single interaction with your donors needs to focus on building relationships. That includes fundraising appeals. It’s possible to raise money and build relationships at the same time.

Follow this formula – ask, thank, update, repeat. Thanking and updating should naturally evolve into building relationships, although that doesn’t always happen.

If your giving is declining, you should have more success if you can move away from transactional fundraising and focus on building relationships. Here are some ways to do that.

Stop using transactional language

First, the word transaction should not appear anywhere in your fundraising. Sometimes I see the words “Transaction complete” after I make an online donation. That’s not giving me a nice, warm, fuzzy feeling at all. I made a gift, not a transaction.

Even more prevalent is the word receipt, which is often used instead of thank you. After a donor makes a gift they should feel appreciated. 

An email subject line is one of your first chances to connect with your donor. How would you feel if this is what you saw? 

“Your recurring donation has been processed”

“Donation tax receipt”

“Transaction Receipt from…… for $…”

This again emphasizes the transaction. Payment information should not be the lead of any type of thank you. Where are the words thank you?

It’s not easy to find good thank you email subject lines. Here are some that stand out.

“Thank You For Helping Globe Santa Deliver Joy This Holiday Season”

“Thank You for Spreading Holiday Cheer!”

“Thank you for investing in Peace!”

“Thank you for supporting Malala Fund, Ann”

“Your monthly gift in action” 

The last subject line leads into an email message that emphasizes how the donor is helping that organization make a difference, which is a good example of building relationships.

Make a point to change your thank you email subject lines so they include these very important words – Thank You.

When organizations lead their fundraising appeals by saying “It’s our year-end appeal” or “It’s GivingTuesday,” they’re not connecting with their donors by concentrating on why donors give. 

Many donors don’t care that it’s your year-end appeal. They care about your work and want to help. Instead, say something like – How you can help families in the community put food on the table. 

Make relationship building part of your fundraising campaigns

You need to build relationships before, during, and after each of your fundraising campaigns. Keep this in mind – Your Fundraising IS Your Relationship.

Before your next appeal, send your donors an update to let them know how they’re helping you make a difference. This is especially important if you do more than one fundraising campaign a year. You don’t want your donors to think the only time they hear from you is when you’re asking for money.

Segment your donors

One way to help ensure you’re focusing on relationships is to segment your donors and personalize your appeal letters and other types of donor communication. 

Don’t send the same appeal to everyone on your mailing list. What is your relationship with these individuals? Maybe they’ve given once or many times. Perhaps they’re event attendees, volunteers, e-newsletter subscribers, or friends of board members. Mention your relationship in your appeal letter. For example, thank a long-time donor for supporting you for the last five years.

Monthly donors get their own appeal letter. This doesn’t happen enough and it’s one of my biggest pet peeves. Build relationships with these committed donors. Recognize they’re monthly donors and either invite them to upgrade their gift or give an additional donation.

Let your donors know how much you appreciate them

Your focus on building relationships continues when you thank your donors. Many organizations do a poor job of this. Send a handwritten note or make a phone call, if you can.

Welcome your new donors. Let them know how much you appreciate this new relationship. If you don’t, it’s likely to be a short relationship.

Be sure to also shower your current donors with appreciation so you can keep your relationship going. Recognize the value of your long-time donors and do something special for people who have supported you for several years. 

Make sure your donors get a heartfelt thank you, not something that resembles a receipt.

Thanking donors is something you can do at any time of the year. I think one of the best ways to connect is by sending a handwritten card. These cards can be generated electronically, if it’s not feasible to write them. This will make more sense for large organizations. I recently received a nice card thanking me for giving a year-end gift in addition to my monthly donations. It makes a difference if you can connect in a more personal way.

Holiday cards are also a good way to reach out, but don’t put a donation envelope in one. You have other opportunities to make appeals. Make it 100% about showing appreciation.

You can send thank you cards at other times of the year, too. If money is tight, spread out your mailings over the year so each donor gets at least one thank you card.

Don’t miss out on opportunities to build relationships

There are many ways you can build relationships with your donors throughout the year. 

You can give donors other opportunities to connect, such as volunteering, participating in advocacy alerts, signing up for your email mailing list, and following you on social media. You could also offer tours of your organization (either in person or create a video tour).

Newsletters and impact reports that focus too much on the organization are the equivalent of being at a party where someone just talks about himself and you may as well not even be there. If you do it well, a newsletter, impact report, or another form of an update can be a good relationship-building tool.

I’m amazed that after I attend an event, support someone in a walkathon, or give a memorial gift, most organizations don’t do a good job of building a relationship. I could be a potential long-time donor. Personally, I would never give a memorial gift or support someone in a charity walk if I didn’t believe in that organization’s cause. Don’t miss out on a potential opportunity to build longer-term relationships.

It takes time to build relationships, which is why you need to include donor engagement and stewardship as part of your fundraising strategy. Organizations with strong major giving and legacy programs see more success, but these initiatives don’t happen without good donor relationships.

Hold a relationship-building day

My main objection to giving days, such as GivingTuesday, is they focus so much on asking. What if we put all the time and energy we focus on giving days into a relationship-building day?

I’m not saying you can’t participate in giving days, but instead of the relentless begging, follow the formula above and build relationships before, during, and after your campaign.

Of course, you could choose not to participate in a giving day and have an all-out relationship-building day instead.

Build relationships all year round

It’s easier to stay focused on your donors when you’re sending an appeal or thank you, but this is just the beginning. Many organizations go on communication hiatus at certain times of the year and that’s a huge mistake. Ideally, you should keep in touch with your donors every one to two weeks, once a month at the most.

Always stay focused on relationships. Good relationships with your donors will help you raise more money and keep your donors for a long time.

The Importance of Showing Gratitude to Your Donors

Ann Green donor engagement, donor retention, donor-centered, gratitude, thank you letters, year-end appeal , , , , ,

Year-end fundraising coincides with the gratitude season, which includes Thanksgiving in the U.S. and the December holidays. This is appropriate since thanking your donors is part of the fundraising equation, even though many nonprofits don’t always realize this.

Now is a great opportunity to show some gratitude to your donors. You could hold a thankathon, especially if you haven’t launched your appeal yet. Traditionally, thankathons are done by phone, but you can use other channels, too.

You may be laser-focused on your year-end campaign and think you’re too busy to spend much time thanking your donors, but that’s precisely why you need to get on the thank you bandwagon. Showing some appreciation to your donors right now can help you raise more money for your year-end campaign (or any campaign). It will also make it more likely your donors will give again. Francesca Gino from the Harvard Business School calls this the Gratitude Effect.

You’re never too busy to thank your donors. Besides, don’t they deserve some special attention?

Showing gratitude doesn’t happen nearly as often as it should, but you need to spend just as much time thanking your donors and building relationships as you do on fundraising.

Here are a few ways to incorporate gratitude into your year-end fundraising campaign.

Say thank you in your appeal

Does your appeal thank donors for their past or potential gifts? It should. Remember, you need to show gratitude while you’re trying to raise money.

This is especially important around GivingTuesday and I’ll write more about that in an upcoming post.

Wish your donors a Happy Thanksgiving

One way to show gratitude is to send your donors a special Thanksgiving message. A lot of nonprofits already do this. If you’re not one of them, make this the year you start. If you can send a card or postcard, that’s great, but an email message is also fine. If you use email, be sure to address your donor by name to make it more personal and send it the day before when they’ll be more likely to see it.

In a recent post about running a multichannel campaign, I suggested skipping the reminder during Thanksgiving week and pour on the gratitude instead. 

There’s a lot of uncertainty right now and your donors will appreciate a heartfelt message from you. Let them know how grateful you are to have them as part of your donor family. 

Don’t stop with Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving isn’t the only time to show some appreciation. The holidays and New Year’s are coming up soon (sooner than you think) and that’s a good opportunity, especially for those of you outside the U.S., to express gratitude. But you don’t need a holiday or other special occasion. Just thank your donors and do it often. 

Whatever you decide, DO NOT include a donation envelope or any other type of ask with your thank you message. This is known as a thask and it’s guaranteed to deflate your donor’s good feelings in an instant.

Be ready to thank your donors as soon as you receive a donation

Every single donor, no matter how much they’ve given or whether they donated online, gets a thank you card/letter mailed to them or receives a phone call.

Planning ahead will help you thank your donors as soon as possible. I’m sure you’re spending a lot of time and effort getting your fundraising appeal out. Perhaps you’ve recruited other staff or volunteers to help you.

You need to do the same thing when you thank your donors. Get your board, other staff, and volunteers to help make phone calls, write thank you notes, or include a handwritten note in a thank you letter. This is also an opportunity for a thankathon.

Make thanking your donors a priority

Your donors deserve more than just the same boring, generic thank you letter. The initial thank you right after you receive a donation is important. So is the next one and the one after that and the one after that….

Thanking your donors is not something you just do after you receive a donation. You want to thank your donors at least once a month. How many of you are actually doing that? 

Here are some ways you can show gratitude throughout the year.

  • Send a handwritten note.
  • Create a thank you video and share it on your website, by email, and on social media. Better yet, personalize it.
  • Send welcome packages to your new donors.
  • Invite your donors to connect with you via email and social media. Keep them updated on your success and challenges. Making all your communications donor-centered will help convey an attitude of gratitude.
  • Thank your donors in your newsletters and other updates. Emphasize that you wouldn’t be able to do the work you do without their support.
  • Hold an open house or offer tours. You can also create a virtual tour or other engaging video content to let your donors see your nonprofit up close and personal.
  • Thank your donors just because they’re great.
  • Keep thinking of other ways to thank your donors.

Create a thank you plan to help you with this.

Always choose kindness 

The world could use some more kindness right now. There’s so much going on and the divisiveness doesn’t help. As long as you’re sincere, I don’t think there’s such a thing as being too nice.

In the spirit of kindness, show some gratitude to your donors and make them feel special.

Why Segmenting Your Donors Makes Sense

Ann Green appeal letters, Communications, database, donor relations, donor retention, fundraising, thank you letters , , , , ,

Segmenting your donors makes sense on every level. If you’re running a campaign, you can send different letters to different types of donors or segment by gift amount and encourage them to upgrade. You can also create a new donor welcome series, a special thank you mailing for monthly donors, or reach out to lapsed donors.

Your donors are not the same. Some donors have given for at least five years (these donors should get a lot of attention). Some are monthly donors. Yet, many nonprofit organizations fail to recognize that and send everyone the same messages. 

I often receive generic, one-size-fits-all communication from organizations that don’t acknowledge I’m a longtime donor or recognize that I’m a monthly donor. How do you think that makes me feel?

Besides creating a personal connection, another benefit of segmenting your donors is it can help you raise more money and boost your retention rate. If you haven’t been segmenting your donors and have been struggling with meeting your revenue and retention goals, that may be why.

Isn’t it time for you to start segmenting your donors? If you’re already segmenting your donors, kudos to you!

You may be worried about how much time this will take. Plus, you don’t think your current CRM/database can handle it and it will cost too much to get a better one. 

In reality, it may cost you more not to segment. A good CRM/database is worth the investment because segmenting your donors will help you with retention, which costs less than trying to find new donors. 

Your appeals and thank you letters will stand out if you can personalize them and not send everyone the same generic letter. You don’t need to create a 100 different types of letters, though. Four or five should be sufficient. 

Here are a few different types of donor groups to help get you started. Remember, investing in a good CRM/database will help you with this.

Current single gift donors

An appeal letter to current single gift donors (Monthly donors get their own appeal. More on that below.) must acknowledge their past support. You can segment donors by gift amount and use this opportunity to ask for an upgrade. Many organizations don’t do this, but it’s a good way to increase your revenue.

Your donors will be more receptive to upgrading their gifts if you’ve been doing a good job of thanking them and staying in touch throughout the year.

If these donors give again, they should get a handwritten note, phone call, or letter letting them know how much you appreciate their continued support. If they’ve upgraded their gift, be sure to acknowledge that, too. 

Potential/new single gift donors

If you’re sending an appeal to someone who’s never donated to your nonprofit before, what is your connection to them? Are they volunteers, event attendees, or people on a list you purchased?

The more you can establish a connection, the better chance you have of getting a donation.

The retention rate for first-time donors is terrible. One of the reasons is poor communication. You can help boost your retention rate by making your new donors feel special.

New donors should get a handwritten note, phone call, or letter welcoming them as donors. Invite them to connect with you in other ways such as signing up for your newsletter, following you on social media, and volunteering.

Then a week or so later, send them a welcome package by mail or email. Personalization is essential for new donors.

One of the biggest hurdles nonprofits face is ensuring first-time donors give a second time. If they keep giving after that, they’re showing their commitment to your organization. That’s why the second gift is called a golden donation. Don’t blow it by ignoring this.

New monthly donors

Brand new donors who opt for monthly or other recurring donations get the same special thank you treatment mentioned above. Welcome them to your family of monthly donors. 

Your current monthly donors must get their own appeal that recognizes them as monthly donors. In this appeal, you can either ask them to upgrade their gift or give an additional gift. 

When your donors give an additional gift or upgrade their monthly gift, they, of course, get an amazing thank you.

Current donors who become monthly donors

Your current donors who decide to become monthly donors are also showing their commitment to you. They get a handwritten note, phone call, or letter thanking them for their continued support and for joining your family of monthly donors. From now on they should get specialized appeals and other communication targeted to monthly donors. 

Segment as much as you can

While I’ve suggested a few ways you can segment, there are many more options. You can segment by gift amount and number of years someone has been a donor. You can segment volunteers, event attendees, lapsed donors, and non-donors. You can also use segmentation in other types of communication, such as creating a special newsletter for monthly donors (or at the very least including a cover letter for monthly donors with your newsletter) and sending handwritten notes to people on their donor anniversary.

Segmenting your donors makes a difference

Spend some extra time segmenting your donors into different groups. Unfortunately, if you don’t, you’re missing out on opportunities to connect with your donors, raise additional revenue, and boost your retention rate. 

How Will You Thank Your Year-End Donors?

Ann Green direct mail, donor engagement, donor-centered, gratitude, planning, thank you letters, writing , , , , , ,

I imagine many of you are working on your year-end fundraising campaign. You may have started working on your appeal letter, which is great, but how much time have you spent thinking about how you’ll thank your donors? Maybe not that much. If that’s the case, you’re making a mistake because it’s just as important, if not more important, to plan how you’ll thank your donors. 

I highly recommend creating a thank you plan, which will help you show gratitude before, during, and after a campaign. 

Your donors deserve an amazing thank you. The problem is most thank yous don’t come anywhere close to being amazing. Many organizations treat thanking their donors as an afterthought and it shows. You can’t do that. It will hurt your chances of getting future donations. If you’ve been having trouble keeping your donors, doing a better job of thanking them should help.

There are many ways to thank your donors after an appeal – by mail, phone, email, on your website, or a combination of those. The more you can do, the better.

Thanking your donors is something you need to do well. Don’t shortchange your donors with a half-hearted, generic thank you.

Do an amazing job of thanking your donors. Make it a priority. Here are a few ways to do this. 

Start planning now

Don’t wait until the day after your appeal goes out. Give yourself plenty of time to plan. Write your thank you letter at the same time you write your appeal. 

Figure out what you’ll be able to do. I highly recommend a handwritten note or phone call. Can you do that for all your donors? If not, maybe you’ll break it down by new donors, long-time donors, or donors who have given a certain amount.

It’s important to thank your donors as soon as possible. I understand that handwritten notes and phone calls take more time, especially during the busy year-end season. If that’s the case, you can and should do those at other times of the year instead.  At the very least, your donors should get a letter, even if they’ve donated online. Thank you emails tend to resemble receipts, but we have the power to change that. Whatever you decide, remember to get started on the content now. 

In the past, the standard was to send thank you letters within 48 hours. If that’s too hard, don’t wait much longer than a week. Make sure you’re ready to go when the donations come in. 

Make your donor’s day with a handwritten thank you note

I love it when a nonprofit sends a handwritten thank you note. This is a rare occurrence, so if you do it, your thank you note will stand out in your donor’s mailbox.

Handwritten notes are great in many ways, but one advantage is you don’t have to write that much. In fact, you can do one in just a few minutes.

You could make thank you cards with an engaging photo or buy some nice thank you cards. Get together a team of board members, staff, and volunteers right after your appeal goes out to help you with this.

Think about how much your donors will appreciate this nice gesture. Here’s a sample note.

Dear Lisa,

Thank you so much for upgrading your gift to $75. We’re still seeing more people coming into the Westside Community Food Pantry. It’s difficult for many families in the community to afford groceries right now. Your generous gift will help a lot. We’re so happy you’ve been a donor for the past five years.

Phone calls are another personal way to show appreciation

Calling first-time donors is known to improve retention rates. But you could also call long-time donors to make them feel special.

Again, you want to get a team together to help. This is a great thing for your board to do. Here’s a sample phone script.

Hi Steve, this is Jennifer Taylor and I’m a board member at the Westside Community Food Pantry. Thank you so much for your generous donation of $50 and welcome to our donor family. Your gift will help feed more local families right now. Many of them are struggling to make ends meet.

Write that amazing thank you letter

If it’s impossible to send handwritten notes or make phone calls, you can still impress your donors with an amazing thank you letter. As I mentioned before, many thank you letters aren’t amazing at all and are mediocre at best. You’ll have an advantage if you take some time to create a great, donor-centered letter.

The purpose of a thank you letter is to thank your donors. Keep that in mind at all times.  

Don’t start your letter with On behalf of X organization…. If you’re sending it on your letterhead, it should be obvious it’s coming from your organization. Instead, start your letter with – Thank you, You’re incredible, or You did something great today!

You also don’t need to explain what your organization does. This often comes across as bragging by saying something like – As you know, X organization has been doing great work in the community for 20 years…. Someone who’s donated to your organization should already be familiar with what you do. 

And, don’t ask for another gift in your thank you letter. You did that in your appeal letter. You can ask again another time. Always keep gratitude front and center.

Write separate thank you letters for different types of donors. Welcome new donors and welcome back your current donors. Monthly donors should also get special recognition.

Your thank you letter needs to make your donors feel good about giving to your organization. Let them know how their gift is helping you make a difference. Include a brief story or example, such as the sample handwritten note or phone script I included above.

As with all writing, make your letter personal and conversational. Write to your donor using you much more than we and leave out jargon and any other language your donors won’t understand. Also, you must address your donors by name – not Dear Friend. Personalization is crucial when thanking your donors.

Your envelope makes a difference. Don’t use a boring, white #10 envelope. Make your letter stand out by using a colored or textured envelope. You could include a teaser that says Thank You and use a nice stamp (You can buy thank you stamps). Hand address the envelopes if you can and include a handwritten note inside that will help make it more personal. You could also include an engaging photo in the letter.

Yes, you do need to include the tax-deductible information, but do that at the end, after you impress your donors with your letter, or include it on a separate page. It’s easiest to include this with your thank you letter or email. Then you don’t have to send it again unless your donor requests it.

Create a more personal online thank you

The thank you plan I reference above gives you advice on how to create better thank you landing pages and email acknowledgments. These often come across as transactional. You need to think of the donations you receive as the start or continuation of a relationship, not a transaction.

Remember, even though your online donors will get an electronic acknowledgment, they should still get thanked by mail or phone. I like to think of the landing page, email, and what comes in the mail or by phone as the thank you journey. Don’t forget this is an ongoing journey.

I do want to emphasize the importance of a good email subject line. Stand out in your donor’s inbox and use language that conveys gratitude, such as Thank You, Lisa! or You just did something great! Steer clear of anything like Donation Receipt or Your Receipt from X Organization. It’s not that hard to do this and you’ll make a good impression.

Remember to make thanking your donors a priority, both now and throughout the year. You should be more successful if you do.

If You Want Better Donor Engagement, Practice The 5 C’s of Good Nonprofit Communication

Ann Green Communications, donor engagement, donor-centered, fundraising, gratitude, writing , , , , ,

Are you having trouble with your donor engagement? If you answered yes, it may be because your communication is well, just meh. The remedy I like to recommend is the 5 C’s of good nonprofit communication. Keep these in mind when you’re writing a fundraising appeal, thank you letter, update, or any type of donor communication.  

Is it Clear?

What is your intention? What message are you sending to your donors? Are you asking for a donation, thanking them, or sharing an update? 

Whatever it is, make sure your message is clear. If you have a call to action, that needs to be clear, as well. You also want to stick to one call to action. Don’t distract your donors with too many choices. If you ask them to make a donation, volunteer, and contact their legislators in the same message, you run the risk of them not doing any of those.

You want your message to produce results. Plain and simple, your fundraising appeal should entice someone to donate. Your thank you letter should thank your donors (no bragging or explaining what your organization does) and make them feel good about donating.

Use language your donors will understand (no jargon). Keep out terms like food insecurity and underserved communities. Just because something is clear to you, doesn’t mean it will be clear to others. 

Is it Concise?

Can you say more with less? Eliminate any unnecessary adverbs, adjectives, and filler. Make your point right away. Concise writing doesn’t mean you need to be terse or all your print communication has to be one page. Sometimes it will need to be longer, but the same rules apply. 

Nonprofit organizations like to pack a lot of information into their monthly/quarterly newsletters and impact reports, but many donors won’t read something if it looks like it will be too long. 

Shorter, more frequent communication is better. This applies to the example I gave above about not putting more than one call to action in a message. You’ll have better results if you send separate messages for each call to action.

Also, most people skim, so use short paragraphs and lots of white space, especially for electronic communication.

Make all your words count.

Is it Conversational?

Write as if you’re having a conversation with a friend and be personable. Use the second person – where you refer to your donors as you and your organization as we. Remember to use you much more than we. 

Avoid using jargon, cliches, multi-syllable words, and the passive voice. Is that the way you talk to your friends? I hope not.

You may think you’re impressing your donors by using jargon and big words, but most likely you’re confusing them or even worse, alienating them. Connect with your donors by using language they’ll understand.

Is it Compelling?

Is whatever you’re writing going to capture someone’s attention right away and keep them interested? The average human attention span is eight seconds, so the odds are stacked against you. I don’t need to tell you there’s a lot of stuff competing for our attention right now. If you can’t stand out, your donors are going to move on to something else.

Start with a good opening sentence. Leading with a question is often good. Stories are also great. 

Put a human face on your stories and keep statistics to a minimum. Start a fundraising appeal with an engaging story that leads to a call to action.

Are you establishing a connection?

Donors are drawn to your organization because they feel a connection to your cause. You also need to establish a connection with them. You can start by segmenting your donors by different types, such as new donors, current donors, and monthly donors. 

Get to know your donors better and give them content you know they’ll be interested in. Hint – it’s not bragging about your organization. They want to know how they’re helping you make a difference for your clients/community. They also want to feel appreciated. Focus on building and sustaining relationships.

Do a better job with your donor engagement and improve your communication by practicing the 5 C’s.