NEWSFLASH: When your donor gives you a gift she doesn’t get anything in return.
Now, that isn’t entirely true. She gets that warm feeling we all experience when helping someone. That comes from the little squirt of dopamine her brain rewards her with when she gives her donation.
But that warm glow soon fades and she’s left with . . . nothing.
She doesn’t know what happened to her money. She doesn’t know if it really helped somebody or if you went out to a nice lunch.
But you have one powerful thing going for you at this point; your donor communications. Your communications are where you can show your donor that her gift made a difference. Your communications are where you can turn her faith in your organization into passion by showing her a person she helped or an outcome she helped achieve.
Think of it this way; one of the main jobs of your donor communications (your newsletter in particular) is to show and tell your donor that her gift was worthwhile. Are your communications doing their job? Is your newsletter doing its job?
But for now, all you need to remember is that after your donor has given you a gift she doesn’t know what happened. But donor communications that Report will solve that problem, build loyalty, and help you raise more money.