Wanted to let you know about something special that’s happening this month . . .
Introducing Thankuary
We’re taking plain old January and turn it into Thankuary. It’s a whole month to help you and your nonprofit shower your donors with gratitude.
Two reasons:
- Your donors deserve it. They gave you gifts last year out of pure generosity! Do you know if they feel your gratitude? They sure deserve to. And personally, I think there’s a moral imperative to Thank and Thank well. (It might not be a moral imperative, but it sure was my Mama’s imperative!)
- It will help you raise more money in 2018. Thanking well is the very first step towards retaining a donor and making them more likely to give additional gifts. Just one data point for you: Leah Eustace from Blue Canoe Philanthropy showed that a 3-minute Thank You call raises donor retention by 10%. And, Thanking is part of the Virtuous Circle.
Here’s What We Propose
You take the month of January and intentionally Thank your donors with emotion and focus.
We know you have other stuff to do, too. We get it.
So to help, we’re going to spend January talking about the most effective ways to Thank your donors. You’ll get step-by-step instructions. Great ideas. Guest posts. Sample sentences and paragraphs you can steal.
If you think you do a fantastic job Thanking your donors, that’s great. I hope you’ll comment and share what’s worked for you.
How Thankuary Started
A couple of years ago we were working with an organization that swore up and down that they Thanked their donors well. So I looked through all of their receipts and thank you letters.
The first receipt letter I looked at began with this sentence:
“Recently our entire staff went on a retreat.”
That, my friends, is not the best way to start your receipt letter. What in the world were they thinking about Thanking where that sentence seemed like a good idea?
Fast-forward to last month we were meeting with another client. We were talking about spending January making sure their donors knew how important they were to this organization. (Is that something you should do for your organization?)
I said, off the top of my head, “Let’s call it Thankuary!”
And after much rejoicing, Thankuary was born.
So, Thankuary begins today. Stay tuned for our best advice on how you can Thank well, start your year off with some real donor love, and be on your way to a successful 2018!
