10 Ingredients That Produce Wildly Successful Appeals: Acknowledge AND Thank Donors
In October, I presented a webinar on 10 ingredients that produce wildly successful appeals. Combining research with practice, we will be breaking these down in the blog over the next few weeks. Read the full series here.
#8 Acknowledge AND Thank
There are 4 basic keys to thanking donors:
1. Online gifts receive an immediate acknowledgement
People receive this from regular eCommerce sites, and this is the very least they should receive from you.
2. All gifts receive a personalized, appeal-specific thank-you letter with receipt (not just a receipt) mailed within 48 hours.
The receipt can be attached, but the important thing here is personalization and making the letter appeal-specific.
3. Target key donors with thank you calls from staff
Of course, all major and mid-level donors get calls when they make a gift. But what about new donors? If you divide up 10 or 20 new donors each week, even just leaving a voicemail can have a tremendous effect on connecting the donor with your organization. It can also initiate some conversations that lead to better prospect identification. We have found that anywhere from 46 to 53 percent of major donors in the last five years have originated from a gift of $100 or left.
4. Send follow-up emails one month after the appeal communicating results and the impact of the donor’s gift.
Gift reporting and storytelling have shown to curb donor churn and turn one-time donations into the key, multi-year relationships that sustain organizations.
Many organizations are good at either acknowledging or thanking donors. How can your organization be better at both?
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