It’s the end of the year—APPEAL SEASON! And if you’re like most fundraisers, you’re having vivid, haunting nightmares featuring annual fund thermometers sporting tiny Santa hats in a futile attempt to prevent turning a slow, icy blue as Elsa, the older sister from Disney’s Frozen (who looks uncannily like your Executive Director), zaps them mercilessly with an un-gloved finger while cackling, “Why didn’t YOU think of the ice bucket challenge! What are we paying you for?!”
Or something like that.
Dear fundraiser, what I would like you to focus on in these moments of panic, is gratitude.
As responses to your appeal come in, be prepared to warm your donors’ hearts with letters overflowing with gratitude and adoration. And, most importantly, letters that do not include another ask. If you find this difficult, you can learn from Elsa: Wear thick protective gloves that will physically prevent the impulse to stuff in that business reply envelope. (Sure it converts—but just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.) Re-direct all that pent-up energy into being more thankful, more personal, more creative in how you set your donors’ spirits aglow.
Not going to change your mind? Then save yourself the time and use the following template (which is how the donor will read it anyway):
Dear [Donor],
Thank you for your recent, yet mediocre, generosity. You are [a generic phrase we use for everybody else who donated]!
BUT, we want more money!
Sincerely grateful,
[Ungrateful organization]
P.S. Did you see the enclosed donation envelope? The postage is on us!
If you are guilty of sending such a thank you letter in the past, do not despair. Let it go. (Yep, I just said that.) Write the words you know in your heart of hearts people really want to hear, no matter how risky it may feel. Think of a well-crafted and genuine thank you letter as the fundraising version of true love’s kiss—it’s the only thing that will save you from the fundraising freeze now, next year, and in years to come.
Who’s sweet on a valentine swap?
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About Shanon
[…] The born do-gooder and queen of gratitude, Shanon Doolittle gives us a fundraising lesson from Frozen. […]