The Two Most Powerful Words in Donor Relations

Synopsis
“Thank you!” are two of the most powerful words in your donor relations strategy. Few things are more important to donor retention than timely thanksgiving. You can’t rely solely on auto-generated thank you emails. There’s no replacing the personal touch. In this article, as you execute your year-end appeal, learn about ways to express thanks to donors that will increase retention and future engagement. 

Article
The way in which you thank donors for their generosity plays a key role in donor retention, donor satisfaction and increased donor giving. I once worked for a ministry where the executive director took the time to write a brief, personal note to every donor who made a contribution that month. Even those who made monthly recurring donations got that handwritten note every month. For all the technology now employed in finding prospects, tracking giving and generating immediate responses to gifts, nothing has yet topped the power of a handwritten note. The more personal the contact, the more meaningful to the donor. 

That said, when it comes to giving thanks, use all the tools at your disposal. You absolutely should have an auto-generated message that sends the moment a gift is completed online. In the case of checks sent by mail, have a process where a thank-you email or phone call goes out the day the gift is received. Beyond that, a follow-up from a leader, executive director or development director, is the next step. In small organizations with a small donor base, I suggest every donation triggers a contact from leadership. This can be a personal email, a text message or a phone call. 

Larger organizations can set a threshold for contact from leadership. For example: 

• A gift from a new donor of any size gets a response from the development director (or executive director if no development director). This allows you to connect with the donor and learn about what brought them to you and why they chose to make a gift. 
• Any gift over $500 (or pick an amount that fits your organization) gets a thank you contact from the executive director. 
• Any gift from $100 to $500 gets a thank you call from the development director.

The thank you can be by phone, email or handwritten note. While handwritten notes are best, donors appreciate any direct, personal contact. Beyond this, have a strategy for thanking your largest donors in a special way. The executive director of another organization I worked with had a practice of sending a small gift to the largest donors in the first quarter of the year as a thank you for their generosity. Sometimes this would be a book he had found particularly meaningful. Other times it was a small token with a meaningful story attached. The board members funded the cost of these gifts, or the executive director paid out of his own pocket. Donors tend to dislike getting gifts funded by their donations! 

While you might risk saying thank you too often, if your thanks are timely, personal and meaningful, they will be well received. The extra effort to say thank you in general and not related to a donation is also a good way to grow and maintain relationships. Learn more about the best ways to thank, engage, acquire and retain donors through the LCEF Mission Advancement Partnership process. Contact Tim Kurth (tim.kurth@lcef.org) and turbo-charge your donor relations.