Gratitude can turn a meal into a feast, a stranger into a friend or a one-off donor into a lifetime advocate. Christmas is often the time when we show our gratefulness to others for their support, input and involvement during the past year.
It provides the perfect opportunity to connect with your donors, big or small, financial or otherwise, to thank and remind them how much their continued contribution provides successful outcomes for your beneficiaries.
We will be faced with some hard-hitting adverts over Christmas which will tug at emotions, guilt and privilege, therefore reinforcing your donors’ experiences and reminding them that they are also making a difference will engender loyalty to your organisation.
Remember this is a THANK YOU! And therefore, a genuine gift of appreciation, so whilst you may be tempted to use it as an opportunity to ask for a donation, resist!! This is a building block that will go a long way towards developing new relationships and strengthening existing ones for the future.
Your Call to action: – Create your thank you letter, email or script, add value by including some of the organisation’s achievements this year, and your goals for 2020. Be sincere in your appreciation and make your communication as personal as possible (using the donor’s name). Be direct and don’t sound overly enthusiastic. There’s no need for a million exclamation marks to show how grateful you are, that will just come across as inauthentic. Pay attention to your words. Correct grammar and punctuation will show that you took time to craft a genuine message.
Good luck and thank you for supporting Morroway House.
Merry Christmas
Morroway House