One of the most challenging parts of running a nonprofit is crafting original thank you letters to send your donors. You want to be thankful, but you don’t want to get too personal about your gratitude. Let’s be real, it’s not possible to write individual thank you letters for each donation you get because there could be so many donors and you may not have that kind of time.
When it comes to thanking donors, quotes can be an excellent way to go about making your letters original while also not being too robotic. By using a set format for your letter where you have to make a few minuscule changes to suit each individual donor, you can make sure that your thank you letter is personalized as well as templated, so you can save time while also expressing your gratitude.
Format according to program
When crafting your thank you letters, have a different one for each program, so that when your donors read your message, they don’t receive vague information about their donations. If you are running a campaign for clean water and feeding the poor side by side, then write different thank you letters for each one, to send to donors. You can say something like: “Thank you for your contribution towards filling an empty stomach.” which would be specific and yet generic enough to send to all donors.
Mention impact
When donors are acknowledged for their contributions, they want to know what the impact of their gift was. By making fixed donation packages and calculating impact, you can make sure that you send out thank you letters according to each package. For example, if you are running a campaign for building schools, you can send a donor a thank you letter saying: “Your donation allowed us to lay down 50 bricks for this school.” to let them know that they have helped in a quantifiable way.
Make donors the main focus
Instead of keeping the focus on the impact of the donation or what your organization would do with it, you should make sure to emphasize on how it is because of the donor and their donation that any work was carried out. For example, you can write “It was thanks to you and your generous contribution that we were able to provide new equipment to the hospital.” This message mentions the impact but also making it clear that it was not possible without the donor.
When crafting thank you letters, try not to begin with the greeting “Dear donor.” Use a smart application to use the name they have entered into your database for added personalization.
Ashraf Samhouri
Salah Hamwi