Before my time at The Better Fundraising Co, I used to be a Director of Marketing and Communications for a nonprofit. But then the nonprofit I was working at needed me to create their fundraising materials from scratch, and I discovered a whole new world of expertise — it challenged the beliefs that my nonprofit and I had for how fundraising worked.
But we started raising a LOT more money.
Before we learned direct mail fundraising best practices, thanking donors who gave in response to appeals and newsletters happened… sometimes. But thanking wasn’t built into our processes, so we dropped the ball more times than I’d care to admit.
We WERE thankful for our donors every time they gave, but we took it for granted that they knew we were thankful.
That was a big mistake.
When a donor makes a gift, they don’t know you’re thankful if you don’t tell them.
When we started building intentional direct mail “thank yous” into our internal processes, thanking started happening more consistently. And donors really appreciated being thanked.
What I wasn’t prepared for was how this consistent thanking process would change ME and my approach to fundraising.
One day I was sitting at my desk, writing thank you notes to everyone who had responded to our Christmas appeal. What started off as a tedious task became something else. As I wrote note after note, a wave of emotion hit me, and I could feel the tears in my eyes.
We had sent out a letter in the mail. And these kind, generous people chose to send money back to help. It felt… magical.
$50. $250. $5,000. I began to see each gift as a precious act of sacrifice from the donor.
What a gift.
I started to approach direct response fundraising differently after this emotional thanking experience. I was more comfortable boldly asking donors to give, because I knew they would be thanked personally and emotionally.
And most importantly, donors started to give more often through our appeals and e-appeals because they KNEW we were thankful for their gift.
Read the whole series:
- How a Strong Fundraising Offer Changes Everything
- Get to the Point FAST to Raise More Money with Your Appeals and E-Appeals
- Make Your Copy Clear and Easy to Understand to Raise More Money
- Design So Donors Can Read, and They Will Thank You by Giving More
- Share Stories That Support Your Ask
- Avoid Looking Too Sleek or Professional
- Thanking Your Donors is Essential (This post)
