Improve Your Donation Thank-You Letters, Cards and Notes: Make
Your Donor The Hero.
One temptation in writing fundraising thank-you letters is to
make your organization the star of the letter. You feel pressure
to tell your donors how terrific you are, how cost-effective you
are or how broke you are. You are tempted to brag about your
achievements, your success, your volunteers, your new board
member and more.
You need to resist this temptation. The secret to crafting
effective donation thank-you letters is "making the donor the
star of every transaction," as Conrad Squires puts it in his
book, Teach Yourself to Write Irresistible Fund-raising Letters.
The quickest and cheapest way to build donor loyalty and reduce
donor attrition is to tell your donors how much they are
accomplishing in the world through your organization. By making
your donor the hero of every thank-you letter (and every appeal
letter for that matter), you reinforce in their mind that they
made the right decision in supporting your mission. And that
they are right in continuing their support.
How to make the donor the hero
1. Use the word "you" more than you use the word "we." Make the
letter all about the donor.
2. Show a direct link between the donor's donation and your
mission. For example: "Thanks to your generous gift of $100, we
fed 52 homeless men last night while the temperature hovered
around -18