Everybody knows that you should send a thank you note to a donor. Along with the fundraising “ask” letter, these two kinds of letters are the bookends. However these not be the only times you make contact with your supporters.

The following is a list of ten reasons you should stay in contact with your existing donors, without hitting them up for another donation.

1. Birthday Wishes

You should make an effort to find out your donors’ birthdays. It shows that you are considerate and thoughtful when you remember them on that special day with a nice card. Set up a tickler in your appointment calendar to remind you at least two weeks in advance, so you have time to buy a card, write a short note, sign it, and mail it. To be better prepared, I suggest you buy a stash of cards and stick them in your desk drawer, so you’ve always got one handy. Also, a quick, handwritten note shows a great personal touch.

Along with the birthday cards, sympathy and congratulations notes are a nice gesture, as well. It is a good habit to scan your local paper for obituaries and announcements. In the case of a donor or a donor’s relative passing away, you will be alerted so you can send a sympathy card right away. You can also use this information to update your database.

If your donor gets his name or photo in the paper for a special award or a new position, remember to also send a note- this time for congratualtions.

2. Regular Updates on Your Organizational News

Do you produce a monthly or quarterly newsletter? Do you send out communications that are important to your families? If you do, you should consider including your donors on the mailing list. By receiving the regular newsletters, the donors can stay “in the loop” about what’s happening and feel included.

While this seems like this would be a no-brainer, I do think you should ask each individual donor if he would like to receive your newsletter in the mail (or by email). Some donors may feel that although they made a donation, they don’t want to be bothered on a continual basis. There are those kinds of donors out there. However, my experience is that the majority like to be kept up-to-date on issues concerning the organization they contributed to.

3. Advice on an Internal Matter

If a person is able to make a donation to your organization, chances are that that person has some wisdom and life experience. I have found that many donors like to be consulted for advice now and again. Be careful not to become a pest, but if you are facing a situation that needs careful deliberation, think about asking for some outside advice from your donor base. Most of the time, you can be sure that since they have already given you their money, they will also be willing to share some of their wisdom, as well. It goes a long way toward erasing any feelings a donor may have that you only care about their money.

You may want to consult your board of directors before sharing any sensitive issues with the donors. Be careful not to treat your advice request as a gossip session. This can turn donors right off.

4. Update on a Previous Contribution the Donor Made

Many times, an organization will receive a donation, the donation will be put to use, and the donor will never hear about the effects of the donation again. You have to remember that when your donor was thinking about whether or not he would donate to your group in the first place, he must have been excited by what you were planning or else he wouldn’t have given. Therefore, it is logical to assume that the donor would like to be kept abreast of any developments within the scope of his donation. Many times, a quick note, an email, or a phone call will do fine. The point is to let donors know what a significant difference their gift made.

5. Interesting News Item to Pass Along

Once you have gone through the initial process of working with a donor, you have established a bond with him. In many cases, you probably had several conversations with him, shared your own personal story with him, and learned about his life a little. In some ways, you have begun to cultivate a friendship. And just like any friendship, you have to pay attention to it or else it will wither. Therefore, I think it is wise to occasionally pass along an interesting piece of news to the donor that you think he might find interesting. This news can have absolutely nothing to do with your group or any kind of donation. It could be about sports or culture or something you know the donor likes. You know- “Saw this and thought of you” kind of note.

Be careful, however, not to send something potentially controversial and be very careful with any use of humor. People can be easily offended, and the last thing you want to do is offend one of your donors. Never go for a laugh unless you are 100% positive you’ll hit the mark.

6. Personal Story of How a Person in Your Organization Achieved Something Great or Overcame an Obstacle

One of the reasons your donor was drawn to your group in the first place was the community of people. Organizations, in and of themselves, are non-living entities. It’s not until you fill it with people that the community springs to life. At some point, your donor must have made a connection with a person or a group of people there.

For instance, if you are running a school and you have a student who won a county spelling bee or got a silver medal in ice skating at the state level or made Eagle Scout, it’s very possible that your donor would love to hear about that. Even better, make sure to share a story of a student at your school who was struggling mightily in some capacity, but through hard work and the teacher’s perseverance, overcame the challenge.

By being included in these success stories, your donor will keep that personal connection alive with your school.

7. Invitation to Go to Lunch/Meet for Coffee

Everybody’s got to eat lunch, right? I think it is wise to plan a time each month where you take a donor out to lunch or meet them for coffee. Set up a rotation schedule for yourself. During this time together, don’t ask for anything for your organization. Just keep developing the relationship you have with the donor. The more often you get together and the more often you talk about other issues, the easier it will be to go back to the donor when you need something. The donor will have seen a pattern of continuing and sincere communication from you, and that will ultimately work in your benefit.

8. Bounce a Creative Idea Off of Them

I always loved to call up a donor and share with him a crazy new idea I had for my organization. Even if it was a “pie-in-the-sky” plan with no real shot of ever getting done, I got a charge from brainstorming with donors. As I alluded to earlier, most donors became donors because they had the ability to make lots of money. This implies that many donors have an entrepreneurial streak in them. And entrepreneurs love to brainstorm- even if it never goes anywhere- it’s just how they’re wired.

Whenever I have made these kinds of phone calls and have been really enthusiastic about my idea, I have always been met in kind with energy, enthusiasm, and support. Besides, you never know, one of your crazy ideas might really appeal to the donor, and he may decide to fund it!

9. Share Marketing or Enrollment Material with Them

Whenever I would come out with a new marketing piece, I would always make sure my donors got a copy of it as soon as possible. By doing this, the donor is able to stay current with any new slogans, pricing structures, or programs. I have found that many donors like to be able to talk about your organization out in public. If they have the latest version of your marketing material, they will be able to be better salespeople for you.

10. To Inform Them if There’s Been Some Sort of Problem Within Your Organization

While this is the least pleasant of all of my suggestions, I do think it is important that you alert your donors whenever something significantly negative happens in your group. You’ll have to use your best judgment as to what the donors should know and when they should know it, but it is often better that a donor hear from you about a potentially negative incident personally, rather than by rumor or even possibly on the news.

By hearing about the situation from you first, you can explain the entire story and offer your solutions. The donor will not get this kind of thorough message in any other manner. Bad news happens- it is inevitable. However, if you desire to keep the relationship with your donor stable, you must remember to keep in touch during both the good times and the bad.

Again, you never know, a donor may actually have experience in handling a situation like what you’re going through and could offer great wisdom to you. In any regard, it’s much better to get in front of a story than to be chasing behind it every step of the way.

Conclusion

I strongly believe that your relationship with each donor needs to be sincere, active, and dynamic. When a person makes his first contribution to your group, it is vitally important that you develop a strategy to get to know that person much better. Don’t let an initial “ask” letter and a thank you note be the extent of your relationship with him. Look for every opportunity to make your donor a part of your community. In the long run, everyone at the school will be much richer for it.

When I ran the Southern Utah Alzheimer’s Association, I always made a point to send a thank you note within a few days of receiving a donation; admittedly, though, I used a form letter in my word processing program that I would adapt to each individual donor.  According to an article at fundraisingIP.com, although it was good that I personalized each letter just a bit, I still made the mistake of sending a printed letter instead of a handwritten one.

Handwritten thank you notes are the ultimate expression of appreciation. Of course, this is not always possible to do depending on the number of donors to thank, but handwritten notes show that you took the time to sit down and create something from scratch just for that donor. Donors are also more likely to keep handwritten notes than form letters, which means they may be more likely to keep you on their donation list for next year.

Here are some more tips for writing thank you letters:

Make the letter about the donor, not about your organization. Focus on how generous and thoughtful the donor is, not how great your organization is – that is, unless you’re going to tell donors how their contributions are making your organization better (see next).

Provide details about how the donor’s gift will make a difference in your organization. Donors want to hear about tangible ways their money will create meaningful change, so feel free to elaborate on this aspect of your organization.

Be genuine, but also make it a feel-good letter. If you are sincerely grateful for the donor’s contribution, this is easy to do. Start and end the letter with “thank you,” and write the letter with the goal of making the donor feel good about his or her act of generosity. If the donor is a business, agency, or corporation, consider offering an in-service or other type of benefit if appropriate.

When you take the time to really say “thank you,” everybody wins. What other tips do you have for writing thank you letters? Post a comment to this blog and share your expertise with others.

The Thank You letter often is created and sent without much thought. It may seem to be the last step in getting a gift from a donor and a routine task that warrants little merit. But it’s actually the first step in securing the next gift!

Purposeful and well-thought out Thank You letters can help you steward your donors, not to mention provide you with another way to communicate with them. Make sure you are getting the most from your Thank You letter efforts with these ideas.

1. Get the letter out quickly!
Everyone has probably heard that the faster you get your Thank You letters out the door, the better. And it’s absolutely true! Donors want to be sure that you received their gift and a Thank You letter is the best way to let them know it arrived safely. Experts say let no more than 48 hours go by from the time you receive a gift until the time you send out a Thank You letter. If it takes you a little longer and that’s the best you can do, work with it. Figure out what will work for your organization and put a priority on getting the letters out the door.

2. Relate your Thank You letter to the ask
Instead of sending out a generic letter, customize your Thank You letter to the specific ask that was used to generate the gift. If a gift comes to you from an appeal you sent out, then make sure your Thank You letter refers back to the story or the text in the appeal. You may need to write several different letters that can be used for whatever you have going on. For instance, you may want to write one letter for a special event you are working on, another one for monthly givers, and another one for donors who respond to your newsletter. Relating the Thank You letter back to the ask is a way to let your donors know you are paying attention.

3. Tell the donor what you will do with their money.
This is critical. Make sure the donor knows how you plan to use the donation he or she just sent you. Text like “Your gift will ensure that 15 children will go to summer camp for one week” makes the process of donating more real and tangible to the donor. They can envision 15 kids going to camp for a week and it helps create a bigger feeling of satisfaction for the donor.

4. Use a real signature
Digital signatures are easy and eliminate hand signing a stack of letters. But technologically-savvy donors know the difference between a digital signature and a live one. Have your President or Executive Director sign the letters, or ask a volunteer to sign them on his or her behalf. And use a blue pen so that donors can clearly tell it is a real signature.

5. Have the ED or President go through the letters and add personal notes.
This can bring big rewards in terms of stewarding donors! Taking a few minutes of a busy day to go through a stack of letters may seem like a chore to your boss, but donors who get a Thank You letter with a personal note will be thrilled that the ED took time to personally acknowledge his or her gift.

6. Add a reply envelope
Don’t be afraid to include a reply envelope in a Thank You letter. Many donors will hang onto these and use them for their next gift. You may receive some negative feedback, but you will likely receive a large number of gifts as well. It’s not uncommon to receive thousands of dollars in gifts from these “bounce-back” envelopes. You may want to code these envelopes so that you can track the number, size, and amount of donations received using this technique.

7. Include year to date or lifetime giving data
For donors who have been giving for several years, this information can be very enlightening to them. A donor who gives a $10 gift regularly to your organization will immediately see how their gifts add up over time. Sometimes donors forget when they last gave. Including year to date information can be a gentle reminder for them if they have pledges or commitments to make.

8. Make it clear that the letter is also a receipt
Don’t you hate getting boring thank you letters that drone on and never clearly spell out the gift you made? (By the way, if you aren’t giving to other organizations, you need to. It’s a great way to put yourself in the donor’s shoes and also let’s you see how other organizations handle the thank you process.) If you have to, draw a line on the page below the thank you text and put “Gift Receipt” about the actual gift information.

9. Include an offer to tour your facility or program site
Always include in your letter an offer for a guided tour of your facility or program site. You may never have anyone take you up on this, but they will remember that you offered. You will probably get a few people who want to visit you. Seeing firsthand the work that you do may make all the difference in the world to a particular donor. It can also mean the difference in an average size gift and a major gift.

10. Include the name and contact info of someone the donor can call with questions. Make sure that person is available.
Donors want to be able to call and talk to a real, live, knowledgeable person when they have questions. So be sure to include the name and phone number in your Thank You letters of someone who can answer questions for them.

The book 7 Essential Steps to Raising Money by Mail, which I co-authored with Sandra Sims, includes several sample thank you letters.  In addition there are also sample phrases specifically for how to word thank you letters included in the 321 sample words and phrases.

Do you thank your volunteers, donors and members in the same way — year after year? Would you like to come up with some fresh ideas that have worked successfully for other organizations?

121 Recognition Ideas for Donors, Volunteers and Members published by Stevenson, Inc. offers you 121 valuable ideas that you can put into action immediately. Many ideas involve more effort and creativity than funds. Some ideas are perfect for top-donors where spending additional funds to say “thank you” in a way that continues to develop that relationship with your organization will have great value. There are ideas that will work for many different types of organizations, and this book is certain to get you thinking about how you could adapt these 121 ideas for your own organization’s needs.

One excellent idea offered that will also help develop relationships with your volunteers is #10: Ask Volunteers How They Want To Be Recognized. This idea suggests that a suggestion box be placed out for recognition ideas. Getting an idea of how people want to be recognized is a valuable tool for any organization to have at its fingertips — but many do not look for this input.

You’ll find lots of ideas that are long on creativity and low on cost. Idea #31: 10 Ways To Show Volunteers That You Care is a great example of some thoughtful ideas to thank volunteers. With some brainstorming, these ideas could even be adapted to find ways to thank donors or members. One of the ideas is to create a dollar value of the volunteer’s time and to present them with a “fake” check at your recognition event.

This book lists ideas and gives steps that offer how to put them in place. You will be inspired and motivated reading this book, and come away knowing how you can recognize the people that have been so important to your organization. If you are looking to brainstorm and jumpstart your creative thinking for great recognition ideas, this is the book for you!

Find out more about 121 Recognition Ideas for Donors, Volunteers and Members

Sending your thanks to people who have helped with a fundraising campaign, including volunteers, staff and donors, is very important.

Marc Pitman also advises us to be attentive and listen to what supporters say. How you respond or don’t respond to them can unintentionally communicate negative messages to them.

Just taking money without thanking donors and or letting them know how their gift was used speaks very loudly that you’re more interested in their cash then in them.

Sending your letters 6-8 weeks after a gift comes in let’s donors know you’re not very interested in them too.

Doing nothing about an issue even after people have complained about it or questioned it repeatedly, not even developing a succinct explanation for why it is done that way, speaks volumes too!

Read more of Marc’s thoughts on his blog post: What are you saying?!

Here are a few tips for thanking donors:

• Pencil in thank you activities on your calendar ahead of time. If you have just a one on one meeting with someone, make it a habit to send a note the same day. For special events, put your thank you note writing on the calendar for two days after the event (one day for a breather!)
• In addition to personal thank you calls, notes and/or letters, include acknowledgements for major gifts, volunteers who went the “extra mile,” and event organizers in your regular newsletter.
• Respect your donors wishes. For example, if they wish to a gift to be anonymous keep it that way. Just thank them in private.
• Make thank you letters specific to the campaign or project that someone gave to.
• Automate thank you letter process as much as possible using your database capacities and/or mail merges
• Delegate tasks when possible. For example, the director can write up several versions of a thank you letter for common giving situations. Another staff member or volunteer can be charged with running the mail merge and printing the letters. Then the director can review and sign.

Having an open line of communication between non profit leaders and donors is vitally important. Remember to thank early and often, practice active listening and follow up when people provide feedback.

How can we show our supporters our heartfelt thanks without using their donated money to do it? The best suggestion is to take the lead of your donor community and incorporate some inexpensive ideas to show your appreciation.

We can fully understand why some donors may get upset that a small (even miniscule) portion of their donated money is going back to thanking them. This is a subject that many groups wrestle with… the fine line between building a good relationship with donors and spending the money improperly.

Some of the bigger fundraising groups, like Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, don’t give out ‘things’ in return for a donation. Others, like The Humane Society of the US or The Nature Conservancy, give you calendars, mailing labels, umbrellas…. which means that a small portion of your donation goes to buying your gifts.

There are a number of ways that you can ‘thank’ the bigger spenders without using up all the money they’ve given you in their gifts! Here are a few examples:

Make Thank You Gifts Available But Optional

If you send out a donation request letter, include a spot under the amounts for people to check if they don’t want to receive your token gift item, such as a t-shirt or calendar. Many people will check that spot encouraging you to use your money on just the cause. This also puts the donors in charge of where their money goes.

It makes it harder to predict how many items you’ll have to buy in advance (how many bumper stickers, calendars, static clings, shirts) so I’d recommend getting something that you’d plan to sell later on, and are offering it to your donors first as a thank-you. This can also apply to those lovely mailed thank-you acknowledgements. Leave a line to allow the donors to put in their e-mail address to receive an electronic copy of their donation receipt in a pdf file from your group in lieu of a mailed thank you card.

Thank You Reception

You can also host a small behind-the-scenes reception for just the BIG donors to help make them feel a part of organization. This private tour for your top donors should be ‘classy’ in that it has some hors d’oeuvres, some donated wine, the tour guides are the board members or the president, and a private Q&A session afterwards.

This is one of those special touches just for the big donors, a behind-the-scenes look at where their money goes. This would work for most organizations, from animal shelters to theatre groups, and from cancer funding groups to domestic violence awareness centers.

Special invitations to a donors’ picnic, a special reception at the home of the group’s president or a special cocktail hour before the formal ball or auction only for the high donors are other variations.

Honorary Naming Privileges & Plaques

Of course, you can always name something in honor of a large donor, or place their name on a brick or engraved plate in your walls, or on a leaf in your family tree mural. This costs very little (except for engraving), and leaves a permanent thank-you visible for everyone to see.

There are so many things you can name in their honor, from a tree, a memorial garden, a bench, have a picket fence engraved with donors’ names on each picket, special kitten rooms, surgery rooms, nurseries for at-risk mothers and their babies, name some rescued animals after them or give the donor carte blanche to name the rescued animals. One church asked their members to sponsor the building of their new fellowship hall. This gave them the opportunity to ‘buy’ a toilet, urinal, stove, sink, tables, chairs and over 100 other items for their church. Just about everything bought was able to have a ‘label’ on it of some sorts, thanking the donors.

Sponsorship Programs

The previous comment can go further through an annual sponsorship of cages/ kennels for an animal rescue, sponsorship of a project, or a child in a program. This can be done by families, businesses, co-workers, etc. Some people give these sponsorships on behalf of their office-mates as a Christmas present. Others give it to Great-Grandma Betty since she doesn’t need another tchotchke in her home which is already filled with a lifetime of memories.

Electronic Thank-You’s

Creating something special for your donors… a special booklet, newsletters, screensavers, desktop wallpaper… Anything electronic in nature will reduce the amount of money needed to produce it. A slideshow, screensaver, wallpaper on your computer’s desktop or other electronic ‘gift’ can be created specifically for your group, without incurring a high cost in production.

Business Partnerships

Secure special ‘memberships’ or ‘offers’ for your annual donors. Contact local businesses and services and ask them to offer your donors a special discount as a thank-you for their support. This will help both the business AND show the donor your appreciation. This discount card can be made inexpensively on your own computers and laminated with self-stick laminating paper.

Personal Phone Calls

The highest donors should get a prompt phone call and thank you card from the board president (or other highly respected member) to show that the donation was received, it was truly appreciated, and that it required the highest level of acknowledgement. I’ve heard horror stories where the front staff forgot to give the special donation to the president, or it was lost in transit or on the president’s desk, and a $100,000 donation was not acknowledged! GASP!

Set up a routine where all donations that come in are recorded in one journal, then list how they are responded to and by whom. Have people initial their actions in the journal/ database. There should be a record of how a check gets from the mail to the bank and what thank-you was sent and when. “THANK BEFORE YOU BANK!” as Kim Klein, a fundraising guru, always recommends.

Special Touches

Sometimes it’s not the expense of the thank-you that donors want to remember, but the special touch that you give with it such as a personalized card or the special note inside a card that really makes it personal.

Specially created cards by members of your organization are just small touches to say we’re thinking about you and appreciate your generous support of our efforts. Perhaps take a photo, and have the mat of the frame be ‘painted’ by the animals in a rescue, or painted by children in an after school art program for a special touch.

A personalized message and hand signed by the president also makes the thank you more personal.

I hope this gives you some ideas to help you brainstorm ways to thank your donors without breaking the bank!

About the Author: Danielle Hamilton is the editor of HumaneFundraising.com and moderator of a Yahoo group dedicated to helping animal rescue groups raise money for animals.

Looking for a sample thank you letter to send your supporters for their donations? The following is a very general thank you letter template that you can use as a starting place for your thank you letters. This particular thank you letter template is for financial contributions.

Simply copy and paste the following text into your word processing program to get started. Then fill in the details that are specific to your organization and edit it to give it a personal touch.

Print out the thank you letters on your organization’s letterhead. The letterhead normally includes the organization’s name, address and telephone number. Sending the thank you letter on letterhead is important for tax receipt purposes and makes your organization look professional and trustworthy.

Each letter should be hand signed after printing.

Thank You Letter for Donation Template:

[Date]

[Address of Donor]

Dear [name]:

On behalf of [name of organization] I would like to thank you for your generous gift of [amount donated]. Your commitment to helping [cause] in our community is sincerely appreciated.

Each year [name of organization] continues to advance its mission of [mission]. Through our programs [name of programs] we have seen many lives changed for the better.

In particular the [program] has enjoyed great success in the past year. [details about growth or goals achieved].

The goal of the [name of organization] is to continue to make a difference in the [cause]. With the help of donations from supporters such as you we will continue to see improvements in [cause].

Thanks again for your generous support of our efforts to [what your NPO does].

Best wishes,

[Signature]

[Name of Executive Director/President/Other NPO Leader]

There are several sample thank you letters included in the 7 Essential Steps to Raising Money by Mail.

Recommended Reading:

Call Foundations First: How to Win More Grants!
Fundraising Job Opportunity: Do You Have What It Takes?
A Checklist for Those Worried about the Strength of their Non-Profit
5 Reasons You Should Collaborate with Another Non-profit in 2011- Part I
5 Reasons You Should Collaborate with Another Non-profit in 2011- Part II
7 Ways to Maximize Your Mini-Fundraiser Earnings
What’s a Non-profit to do When a Tsunami Strikes a World Away?
8 Things to Admire about Jimmy Wales’ Appeal Letter for Wikipedia
How Do You Raise Money for a Non-profit that Caters to the Well-to-Do?
15 Things to Do Right After Your Group Gets Some Good Press

Sending thank you letters or notes to people who make a donation shows your appreciation and reinforces their goodwill about making a financial gift to charity. It is best to acknowledge the gift soon after it is received.

Thank you letters which are on the charity letterhead serve as tax receipts. This type of letter would also need to include the amount donated. Remember, if you are a volunteer fundraiser, the charity handles sending out official tax receipts. However, it could be nice to also send a thank you note if appropriate for your situation. This way, your donors will get a personal thank you from you, and a formal thank you from the charity.

Thank you letters can be handwritten notes or typed letters as long as you sign them.

Fundraising donation thank you notes can be a generic thank you note card. These are sold in quantity packs in retail stores. Just add your personal message inside.