How many of us have started a 24 hour acknowledgment letter process and stopped making a quick thank you phone call immediately after (or on the same day) that a gift is received? I have been shocked at how well received I am when I call a donor just to say thank you. Sometimes I’ll hear surprise at a quick response or learn a little tidbit about their giving that I would have never learned in a letter or email.
More than anything else a personal thank you call means more to you from a real human voice instead of in a letter. We still need to follow up the call with a quick thank you letter including a little reference to the conversation you had on the phone, but the phone call will make a huge difference. I find that a two minute thank you call does more to secure a second gift than anything else.
In fact, the ability to thank donors should be one of the most important things to your organization. If you are good at thanking donors you will be good at keeping and upgrading them too. You could build your entire development plan around acknowledging and thanking and be extremely successful. If a donor feels cared for they want to grow their involvement. Also thanking donors is one of the easiest things for board and executive staff to do. If you want to get your board involved in the fundraising process this is a great way to get them started.
Do you call donors immediately when you receive a major gift? How has that helped your nonprofit?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Anna 08.22.08 at 12:59 pm
Jason,
Thanks for the great blog.
We’re trying to build up this practice at my organization, but are not sure how to get our Board to make thank you calls. Do you have any suggestions?
Leslie Clay 03.02.09 at 9:22 am
All donors get a typed thank you letter that can be used for tax purposes. Above the next level, they receive a handwritten note by me and above the next level, they receive a phone call. The handwritten cards are sent out within 24 hours and the phone call is made immediately - the last thing of my day is dedicated to getting the mail and taking care of any donations received. And yes, I have been known to make phone calls on my commute home! As I have only been in my position a year, I am still getting to know our donors, so the phone call is a perfect time to ask them what brought them to our organization. It is so interesting and gives me a way to know the interest of the donor. Haven’t tried getting board members to make a call, however, if one of their “contacts” makes a donation, I let the board member know.