10 Tips to Thank and Retain Your Donors

I don’t like being associated with Luddites and have to admit that I don’t have a lot of personal experience tapping the power of artificial intelligence, but I have strong reservations about using it as part of donor gratitude initiatives.

Simply put, nothing should be more personal and passionate than thanking donors for their generous gifts of time, talent and treasure — and robots don’t have the honest hearts to perform the job. Here are 10 lessons that are essential to retaining and upgrading donors.

1. Do the Right (and Smart) Thing

It’s just good manners to thank people for opening doors, delivering packages and inquiring about the health of loved ones. It’s extremely difficult to be a donor in a super competitive philanthropic environment. They are not only forced to make difficult decisions between the good and the bad, but between the good and the good. 

There’s no going overboard in stewarding donors. It is also strategically sound because it is so much more cost-effective to retain existing donors than to acquire new ones.

2. Know Time Is of the Essence

If you’re going to thank donors, why not do so immediately to reinforce how excited you are about receiving their gifts? If possible, convey gratitude in 24 hours — or even sooner.

3. Utilize the Growing Variety of Communication Channels Available

The vast majority of gifts used to be sent via snail mail with checks inside. Financial gurus are now predicting that checks will cease being written by 2026. Snail mail letters can remain a staple of gratitude communications, but don’t hesitate to pick up the phone or send an email to achieve more immediate impact.

4. Embrace Handwritten Notes (By Far My Personal Favorite)

How many handwritten notes do you receive? They really give you an opportunity to stand out. 

My practice was to be sure they were put in the mail right away so donors would receive them the day after the gift was made. These notes are brief, so they take only minutes to compose. I always kept a supply of executive-size cards, envelopes and stamps with me (and made sure I knew the locations of post offices and boxes that were open late), so I was equipped to get them out at any time. 

5. Make a Big Deal of First-Time Donors

These donors are absolutely essential to growing gift income. I had a nice practice of honoring first-time donors (and not just major gift donors) during weekly staff meetings. This wasn’t elaborate or expensive — just cake, punch and snapping a few photos.

6. Celebrate Donor-versaries

Donor retention is a huge challenge confronting the nonprofit sector. Sending simple cards or other messages reinforces how much you are aware and appreciate the loyalty of supporters. It also comes as a welcome surprise.

7. Avoid Mementos That Don’t Mean Much to Donors

The truth is that, more times than not, they don’t have the need nor the space to keep mementos, but there is one exception. Photos, particularly of donors with scholarship recipients and other beneficiaries of their generosity, remind them of the difference they are making in helping others, especially those who are struggling.

8. Be Creative in Your Messaging

Think long and hard about the personality and the motivation of the donor, and craft your message accordingly. Rather than a one-size-fits-all approach, it should come across like it is crafted for them and only them. The most important information donors want is on the results being achieved with their gift dollars. Donors deeply appreciate being asked for advice and counsel as well.

9. Create Unique Criteria for Leadership Gifts

Most nonprofits consider naming buildings and facilities to recognize the largest gifts they receive. Interestingly, this is much more of a back-end part of the stewardship process, rather than a motivation for making huge gifts in the first place. More often than not, the donors want to name the facility for a loved one rather than themselves.

10. Honor the Seven Times Rule of Thumb

This means every donor — whether their gift is $1,000 or $1 million — should be thanked seven times and in seven distinct ways during the course of the year. This can take a variety of forms, from the traditional thank-you letter, recognition on your website or social media, surprise phone calls from board members (a great way to engage reluctant board members in the fundraising process), or public or private events.

You can never thank the donor too much. And gratitude must also be expressed for gifts of time. Many consider the gift of time more precious because unlike money it can never be replaced.

Strong stewardship pays handsome returns. In a real sense, it represents cultivation of the next — and hopefully larger — gift in the future. Additionally, it just feels good to convey heartfelt gratitude to donors and friends — and that’s enough of a reward in itself.

The preceding post was provided by an individual unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of NonProfit PRO.